Grants Awarded from the State's Forestry Division will benefit several area Rural Fire Departments

The editedl press release from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture is below:

The Rural Fire Protection Program (RFP), managed by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Division (Forestry Division), is awarding 91 wildland fire suppression kits to rural fire departments across 46 counties in Arkansas. The RFP received $315,221.13 through the Volunteer Fire Assistance Grant from the United States Forest Service to purchase the kits. 

Volunteer fire departments are the primary partner to Forestry Division crews in wildfire response and suppression, but they are often in need of specialized equipment and gear necessary for safe wildfire suppression. Since 2014, more than 670 wildland fire suppression kits have been distributed to volunteer fire departments throughout the state. The necessary equipment and gear in the kits include lightweight wildfire-resistant coveralls, wildland gloves, rakes, backpack water pumps, and leaf blowers.

Area Fire departments receiving kits in 2023 are listed below by fire department and county:

 Alpena (Boone) 
Bergman (Boone)
Zinc (Boone)
Eureka Springs (Carroll)
Oak Grove (Carroll)
Forum Alabam (Madison)
Huntsville (Madison)
Oakland-Promiseland (Marion)
Pyatt (Marion)
Ralph-Caney (Marion)
PG&S (Searcy)

Volunteer fire departments interested in participating in the program must submit an application to the RFP. The applications are scored according to specific criteria including fire district population, the size of the response area, wildfire equipment response needs, and other factors. The next application period is expected to begin in August 2023.

Fire departments should receive an application by mail, or they can be found at agriculture.arkansas.gov/ forestry/rural-fire-protection-program/ when the application period opens. For more information, fire departments should contact Kathryn Mahan-Hooten, RFP administrator, at kathryn.mahan@agriculture. arkansas.gov or (501) 679-3183.