The Mansfield Fire Department received an $8,942 Rural Community Grant from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission Rural Services Division on Feb. 9. The AEDC Rural Services Division administers the Arkansas Rural Community Grant Programs in three cycles each year, according to an AEDC news release.
Mansfield Mayor Larry Austin said the city applied for the grant last fall and the money will go toward purchasing new equipment, including radios, beepers and leafblowers, as well as turnout equipment such as fire-resistant clothing and boots.
“This grant replaces a lot of equipment that we have that’s out of date,” Austin said. “The City Council and I met with the Fire Department about six months ago and we just asked the question, ‘What do you need?’ They said, ‘We need turnout gear, we need backpack leafblowers and we need some radios and beepers,’ so we just took the whole list and put all we could in this application.”
Austin said the city will match the $8,942 provided by the grant with another $8,942, leaving $17,884 for new equipment.