Laneburg VFD gets grant for new station

By Staff, 02/17/20 7:54 AM

LANEBURG – Once the weather clears work will resume on a new fire station for the Laneburg Volunteer Fire Department.

The department recently received a grant for $14,237 to build a new 40×48 foot station. The grant was obtained with the assistance of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office through the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) Rural Services Program.

Mary Godwin, executive director of the EDO, said the new station was needed because the department can’t leave it’s firetrucks outside in cold weather unless they don’t have water in them. This slows the department’s  response time by requiring the trucks to be filled before they can go to the scene of a fire. The current station isn’t big enough to completely enclose the trucks. In addition, the existing station is in a location that doesn’t allow for expansion. The new station will be built near the old Henry Store on Hwy. 371.

The ground has already been cleared for it, but the recent rains have made it impossible to do any more work. Members of the VFD, Godwin said, will be providing the department’s part of the grant with in-kind labor as they will do most of the work on constructing the new station. She said the EDO worked with Brenda Stockton, Micah Stockton, Ben Ratcliff and Chris Fore on the grant. The effort received assistance from Sen. Bruce Malloch and Rep. Danny Watson.