About Us
The Tontitown Area Fire Department (TAFD) was formed in 1979 under Arkansas Act 176 of 1963. It began as an all-volunteer fire department serving a response area of 40 square miles that includes the city of Tontitown. Continued growth of the area has led the department to become a combination department with paid personnel serving alongside the volunteers. The primary source of funding for TAFD is derived from annual membership dues, paid either by cities who have an inter-local agreement with TAFD or by the citizens residing in the TAFD coverage area. Membership dues are supplemented with fundraisers undertaken by the fire fighters themselves.
Our fire fighters unselfishly devote their personal time and resources to train, drill, maintain equipment, fight fires, assist with medical emergencies, and raise money for the TAFD. Our well trained force includes volunteer fire fighters, EMTs, and designated first responders. TAFD has "mutual aid" agreements with all other area fire departments, including the Springdale Fire Department.
As a result of many years of hard work and planning, the Tontitown Area Fire Department has built a fleet of fire trucks and amassed the fire fighting equipment consisting of two engines, two brush trucks, one rescue/pumper, one tanker and one service truck. This fleet affords the capacity to haul a total of 5750 gallons of water to fire incidents.
The main goal of the TAFD is to protect lives and property; when ISO ratings go lower, so do homeowners’ insurance premiums. The citizens served by the TAFD have realized significant savings in annual insurance costs in recent years. In 1979, ISO rated the TAFD service area at 10. TAFD’s ISO rating has improved through the continuing effort to improve training, equipment upgrades and judicial use of matching-grant funding. Today the in city rating is 5 and the rural area is 8b. This improvement has saved property owners thousands of dollars in insurance premiums. Most insurance companies require that citizens in the TAFD coverage area be members in order to obtain the lowest insurance rates.