Trumann Fire Department begins to rebuild after tornado

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - After the December 10th storms, Trumann firefighters went to their station to find out there was nothing left.

That is when Fire Chief Revis Kemper knew he and his staff could not dwell on the moment.

The station lost its roof, almost all its bay doors, and was not able to be salvaged. In the moment when Chief Kemper saw what was left of his station, he was shocked.

“I walked in and I was still getting rained on, I was so confused,” said Kemper. “I then looked up and saw there was no roof, it’s almost like I did not want to believe it.”

A couple of days after the storms, the department started to think about what they were going to do next.

After assessing the damage, they knew they were going to have to bring station one to the ground.

“We are going to have to demolish it and bring it back up,” said Kemper. “With FEMA and national standards, it’s also going to have to meet NFPA standards and the old station didn’t meet any of those standards.”

This means that the crew expects the new station to have a different design.

It will be a design that Kemper says he wants to make sure his crew has a say in.

“It’s not the fire chief who lives in this thing,” said Kemper. “You know I am there Monday through Friday, but my shift guys, they live in it, it’s their second home.”

This was the first week that Kemper met with architects to discuss what the new station may look like and sees the station being finished in around a year.

This means he and his staff will be working in Station Two until the construction is complete.

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