Arkansas firefighters explain value of volunteers in rural areas [Video]

While many of the employees at the Beaver Lake Fire Department work other full and part-time jobs, they still show up to serve their community.

BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Only 28 of the state’s 1,003 fire departments are fully staffed with career, fully paid employees, according to the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management.

That means 97% of the state relies on part-time or volunteer firefighters to help keep residents, especially in rural communities, safe.

Of the 28 employees at the Beaver Lake Fire Department, only three are staffed full-time.

“We have some that are nurses, we have some that work in factories,” firefighter Tyler Harrell said. “We have some other fire department guys that work full time at the city. We have guys that work on our diesel mechanics. All walks of life come to be volunteers.”

Harrell works for the Rogers Fire Department as well as the Beaver …

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