Friday, November 23, 2007

Washington Fire House Dedication


Mayor Paul Henley, the City of Washington and the Washington Volunteer Fire Department celebrated the completion and dedication of the new WASHINGTON FIRE HOUSE. There was a good crowd, the Chamber of Commerce held a Ribbon Cutting and we ate some really good BBQ for lunch. Mayor Henley and Fire Chief Deriel Romine made short speeches.
Washington received a $30,000 grant to help build the facility. I believe the money was a block grant through the Rural Development Commission that was administered by the Arkansas Economic Development Department. I was serving on the Rural Development Commission at the time the grant was granted, I remember working to be sure that Washington received the money.
The estimate for building the new fire station was $90,000. Mayor Henley told me that with the help of lots of volunteers they brought the building in at about $54,000. It is my impression that several of the volunteer firemen did a lot of the work. Rural Arkansas would sure miss our volunteer fire departments and the volunteers that support them.

No comments: