News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Pea Ridge Fire Department is finishing up member training and is expected to be back up and running by the start of the week.
Clay County EMA Director Kyle Haney said a primary meeting established new membership and appointed leadership. He said in that meeting alone, the department gained 27 new members who voted on and filled all leadership positions. Haney said he had never seen so many members of a community attend a fire meeting.
“Good turnout from the Pea Ridge community, and it just shows that the need and the want is there,” Haney said. “So, if we can just get it back up and going to the high standard that we know it can be, I think all else will work out because the community support is definitely there.”
Haney said Chase Emerton was elected to serve as the new Pea Ridge Fire Chief. Haney said he plans to work closely with Emerton and the rest of the department to ensure that the mistakes that initially led to the fall of the department are not repeated. He said once members complete driving training on Saturday, they should be ready to respond to emergency calls.
“It’s our job to figure out what needs to be entered and keep that up-to-date,” Haney said. “So I’m just going to try to guide them the best that I can. I think that the new members themselves, I think that they’ll be really good and they’re willing to learn and they want to make it the best department that they can for the community.”
He said several new members are going through basic firefighter training, but the department, as a whole, has recently completed CPR training and is currently completing Vannessa K and EBOC training for emergency vehicle operation certification.
“Most of the volunteer fire departments, they run off of the community support,” Haney said. “they’re not getting paid to respond to calls or anything like that, they’re not getting paid to operate. Essentially, their fundraisers and their community involvement is what keeps a volunteer fire department afloat.”
