Hometown Hero Brian Bradley
Twenty-five years fighting fires and keeping the community safe
By Steve Wilcox Special to West Washington County Directory
Brian Bradley is the volunteer fire chief in Lincoln , but that ’ s not even his day job . You could say his real job is watching over the town where he grew up and still lives .
“ We have one paid full-time assistant chief . Most everyone else is a volunteer , but there are some part-time summer positions that are paid with an eye toward having someone in the station seven days a week ,” said Bradley . “ When I started 25 years ago , the station was about half the size it is now . And since then , we ’ ve built a station in the Summers area , and the Cincinnati Fire Department is under the Lincoln Fire Department , so we actually have three stations . The biggest change is just the size of the department itself .”
The expanded fire department is an extension of the population growth Lincoln has seen over more than two decades as well . “ We ’ ve seen a lot of change on our side of Washington County ( west ). We ’ ve been able to increase the size of the fire department with the rural fire association ,” said Bradley . “ We ’ re real fortunate to have the equipment we have and the working relationships we have with Prairie Grove , Farmington and Morrow . We ’ ve got a good thing going here in west Washington County .”
The population of the town has almost doubled since Bradley graduated from high school , and evidence of new homes being built dots the local landscape . The city is doing its part by trying to bring business to Lincoln to service that growing footprint .
“ Northwest Arkansas will continue to grow and we ’ re trying to build up our services in the rural area to ensure we have fast response ,” said Bradley , ever the fire chief .
Chief Bradley feels fortunate that his department is wellfunded and he doesn ’ t have to contend with budget issues , he can just fight the fires . The department gets some sales tax revenue and has been able to secure grant money . Some rural residents pay rural fire dues , but generally that stipend comes out of county taxes .
This time of year ( spring ), Lincoln and the surrounding fire departments see a lot of grass fires , some of which work their way into wooded areas . There are 30 to 40 structure fires a year , something that ’ s been on the rise , and Lincoln ’ s fire department never goes it alone thanks to cooperation with the other area departments .
Back to that day job , Bradley is a farmer working cattle , but mostly he runs a commercial crew that cleans out chicken houses and ships the fertilizer to customers in Missouri and Kansas . Those customers use it to fertilize corn and soybeans . The crew works using Bobcat skid steers to push the chicken droppings to a conveyor that loads the material onto trucks .
“ On average , I ’ m within three or four miles of the city of Lincoln ,” said Bradley . “ Sometimes I ’ m in Cincinnati ,
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I can be in Lowell , but we have a full-time assistant fire chief who ’ s at the station and a parttime person , so they can make the initial response .”
As to his recognition as a Hometown Hero , Chief Bradley is appreciative and acknowledges the honor it represents . “ I ’ m glad the folks of Lincoln recognize people who serve the community . I think it ’ s a good thing ,” he said . But he ’ s quick to point out the assistance available from other neighboring communities . “ If we have a big fire , they respond and if they have something , we respond to them ,” said Bradley . “ We all try to work together .”
Photo by : Alan Cruz Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette