Monday morning, the city was presented with a check for $28,000 to go toward outfitting emergency vehicles with portable computers, thanks to September's Heroes and Hamburgers event.
Tom Pyatt, president of the local Bella Vista Foundation, thanked volunteers and donors for everything they did to help raise this money.
"This is a repeatable event for future years," Pyatt said.
Ken Miner, proprietor of Simple Pleasures, the event's venue, said he was very happy with the event, which he created.
"We're proud of the results, we're proud of the people who came out and supported us and the sponsors as well," he said.
Fire Chief Steve Sims said that the event had a fantastic turnout for a first time, and the money it raised for the departments would be enough to outfit two vehicles in both departments. It doesn't fill the need completely, he said, but it's a great step in the right direction.
The Fire Department, he said, has six ambulances and 10 or 11 fire vehicles.
"If you look at the math here," he said, "it's going to take a while just to get the ambulances outfitted."
The computers, he said, are capable of providing GPS data, but they're also good for other things, including writing reports immediately after an incident, meaning emergency personnel can get their reports finished, in some cases, before they return to the station.
"When they're out doing calls, they've still got to do reports," he said. "It'll help these guys out and it'll make these guys a lot happier."
General News on 12/07/2016