NEBCO VFD needs boat

Annette Beard

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GARFIELD -- One of the largest rural fire departments in Benton County, if not the state, is Northeast Benton County Volunteer Fire Department. The department covers an area totaling 84 square miles with about 487 miles of shoreline of Beaver Lake and stretches from Beaver Lake north to the Missouri state line and from Rogers east to the Carroll County line.

Under the direction of Fire Chief Rob Taylor, NEBCO has increased its ability to supply water to fight fires, a key factor in getting the ISO rating down from a 7 to a 5 resulting in a decrease in homeowner's insurance rates of $200-$600 a year.

"This is their department. I just run it," Taylor said, crediting the board of directors, firefighters, medical personnel and residents who work for and support the department.

Now, NEBCO needs to raise about $340,000 to buy a boat for firefighting and water rescue.

"It's a lot of money to buy this boat. It is," he said. "But if everybody contributes, it's not that much."

NEBCO was one of the first fire departments in the state of Arkansas to have a fire boat, Taylor said. The boat the department has used since 1996 was 20 years old when they got it and it is now mechanically inoperable.

The previous boat came from the U.S. Coast Guard through the Arkansas Forestry Service. NEBCO still has a small boat, also from the Forestry Service, but it doesn't provide water.

With the old boat, there was not a good way to access getting patients out of the water, Taylor said. The design of the new boat provides that as well as the ability to pump water from the lake to fight a fire. He said it will have a 1,500 gallons per minute pump.

"It's just like a fire truck on the water," Taylor said.

There are two public meetings scheduled for residents to learn about the need and what can be done to meet it. The first is at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 21, at NEBCO station 1. The second is at 7 p.m Thursday, July 28, at Lost Bridge Recreational Center, Lost Bridge Village, Garfield.

"Hopefully everyone can come. This is a vital need. There are so many areas out there now that have no water system of any kind," he said. "Without a public water system, they don't have fire hydrants. That's a very big need. This would be a sure fix for a lot of those situations that would last a long time."