For the last year and a half members of the department have been taking part in strenuous training. But it’s not to save lives, instead it's to honor them.
“We're busy training top to bottom. Constantly training,” said Lieutenant Josh Cox of the NLRFD.
It's a firefighter's job to step up to the plate.
“So much more to do than just fight fire you know,” he continued explaining his job.
To run to the places everyone else runs from. But it's not every firefighter's job to step up to the plate the way North Little Rock firefighters are. “Well Mayor Smith had mentioned that he would like to see a set of bag pipes for the city of North Little Rock,” said firefighter Cody Platt laughing.
For the last 18 months seven members of the North Little Rock Fire Department have been practicing in a pipe band.
“It's not something you would normally think about,” Platt continued. “But we're actually coming together and starting to sound like a band.”
They practice every third day. Going over songs, tuning their instruments and still learning how to play and harmonize.
“You think it would be kind of easy,” Platt continued. “But it’s been a bit of a struggle."
But the thing is only one of its members has ever played an instrument before
“I expected a train wreck,” said Lt. Cox laughing. “But it actually wasn’t. We’ve got a good group of guys.”
The group is preparing to play at the Northern Lights Festival in town on December 3rd.
“I'm excited. A little nervous to get up there,” Platt said. “I'm looking forward to it happening.
As it stands now the guys will admit they have some more practicing to go.
“That's right I can run into a burning building but playing the bagpipes that's a different story,” said Platt.