PEA RIDGE — After nearly 20 years as two departments, the Pea Ridge Volunteer Fire Department and Volunteer Ambulance Department will again be one department.

Bobby Kitterman, director of the ambulance department, tendered his resignation to the mayor last week.

"The time has come for the merger to take place," Kitterman said, explaining that it is common throughout the state to have ambulance service run through the fire department.

"There are a lot of grants for the ambulance department that we can't receive without being part of the fire department," he said. "I've backed out of it for almost a year so it would be a smooth transition.

"As we stepped forward in 1992 as a volunteer group, we were all orientated to community service.

We wanted to give to the community and this has allowed us to do that. It's been with great pride and pleasure that we gave ... we feel like the community has been very good to us with that gift."

The city has worked toward this merger for a couple of years, according to Mayor Jackie Crabtree.

Fire Chief Frank Rizzio has required all firefighters to also be trained as first responders and encouraged first responders to train as emergency medical technicians.

"We've been working on this for a while," Rizzio said. "It's a logical progression of the service.Over the last several years, all the firefighting personnel have acquired medical training and licensing. All the ambulance personnel are firefighters."

Two years ago, as city officials began working towards the merger, four members of the ambulance department chose not to train as firefighters because of their health, Kitterman said. They were Kitterman, Linda Kitterman, Roger Harris and Shirley Harris.

"They did a great job," Kitterman said of Roger and Shirley Harris. "They would go when nobody else would go. They did a great job."

Kitterman said the Pea Ridge Ambulance Department was one of the first to be allowed by the state to do invasive treatments and that Shirley Harris was instrumental in getting that special permission.

Kitterman said he will miss it, although the four of them will maintain their EMT licenses so they can assist in disaster situations.

"We can still do radio communication, coordination, food and water preparation. We're just not physically able to do the manual work," he said.

"He's done a great job. He's helped lead us up to this point," Crabtree said of Kitterman. "He's dedicated a great number of years to the city that took time away from his family."

In the third year of paying two people to man the office during the weekdays, the two departments have worked together to make the merger happen.

Rizzio said paperwork will need to be completed once the city adopts an ordinance authorizing the merger in order to have all licensing with the State Department of Health list the ambulance as being operated by the Pea Ridge Fire Department.

Rizzio said the day shift has helped the department be more responsive during week days when volunteers were often out of town with their jobs.

"We have a good management team. We're getting more advanced training and want to stay on the leading edge of that. I've got a good training staff including Mike Yarberry, Andy Fletcher and Jim Cantrell," Rizzio said.

"We'll provide the same service. We're a quality BLS (basic life support) service, but this will streamline the office and paper work," Rizzio said.

"This is an exciting time for our department and we're looking forward to any challenges that lay ahead. We have a competent and reliable set of people who willdo whatever it takes to meet the needs of the community," Rizzio said.

Rizzio said he is looking into outsourcing the billing and is seeking to keep everything current with Medicaid and Medicare, as well as with private insurance carriers.

Rizzio joined the Fire Department in 1989 and was named chief in 2000.

News, Pages 1 on 09/16/2009