FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It’s no secret that Northwest Arkansas and the city of Fayetteville is growing more each year. With this growth, also brings demands to the city's need for more first responders.
"We've been really forward ... in making sure that we have technologies that keep us out in the community, and being more proactive,” Sgt. Stephen Mauk said.
Along with new technology, Mauk said the Fayetteville Police Department (FPD) has openings for 21 officers, and the city's growth plan will add even more officers in future.
"We did just get an approval for two officers for the school resource officer program," Mauk said. "So we're looking to get those schools fully staffed with SROs as well, where we're adding two officers per year until they're fully staffed and we have officers in every school."
During the State of the City address, Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan said firefighters saved more than $150 million worth of property.
Battalion Chief Rusty Hulse said the fire department used to measure property lost, now they look at what they have saved.
“If that business had to completely shut down for months on end due to a fire, that's not only affecting the property lost ... the 50 employees are not receiving a paycheck, they're temporarily unemployed," Hulse said. "There's a huge economic impact to that, that we really don't capture this way."
The fire department has 10 fire companies that respond out of the 9 different stations.
Hulse said ten years ago, the fire department received around 8,000 calls per year.
In 2023, there were 13,000 calls, Assistant Chief Willie Watts said.
"The fire department currently staffs with a minimum staffing level of three personnel per unit," Watts said. "And so those 10 units in town are always adequately staffed to a minimum level."
Despite an increase in calls, the department maintains on response times.
"We strive for ... having the first unit on staying within four minutes of the time that we get our dispatch, we want in the case of a fire, we want every apparatus that's needed there within about six and a half minutes," Hulse said.
As both city departments grow, more jobs are being added.
The fire department just stopped taking applications for firefighters and EMTs last week, but you can still apply to the police department. Their next testing date is set for March 2.
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