Fire Department

Fact Sheet

The Bentonville Fire Department, established in 1887, has a proud history of service to Bentonville and the surrounding area. The Department is a full service department offering fire suppression services, paramedic ambulance service, and a technical rescue team which is trained to deal with building collapses, underground/trench rescues, and high angle and other specialized rescue situations. The Department is a member of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team, with six members fully trained as HazMat Technicians.

The Department makes a major contribution to the citizens it serves by offering many public education programs on ways the public can remain healthy, injury-free, and burn-free.

The Department is charged with Emergency Preparedness for the city and during severe weather is charged with storm spotting and public notification for approaching storms that could have a disastrous effect upon the City.

The Department has grown in size from one station and 10 members in 1981 to 65 fulltime uniformed personnel, 10 part-paid fire personnel, and one secretary. Our City is now about 28 sq. miles with a population estimated at over 35,000. All uniformed personnel have the minimum certification of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT's), with over 35 personnel being certified as Paramedics.

The run volume has increased from 450 alarms in 1981 to over 4300 in the year 2010. And the City has an Insurance Services Office (ISO) Town Class 2 rating on a scale of 1- 10 with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst.  We have worked hard to improve our ISO rating, and are proud to announce that in August 2006 we were notified that our ISO rating had improved from a Class 3 to a Class 2.  

The Fire Department operates four Class "A" Pumpers, two 75 foot aerial Quints, one Heavy Rescue Truck, and two Brush trucks. We respond to medical emergencies with five Type I paramedic ambulances, covering all of the city and a large area of Benton County.

If there is ever anything that we can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to call on us. We stand ready to serve you.