On Thursday, Lawrence County Judge Dale Freeman signed a letter addressed to the Arkansas State Fire Coordinator redistributing funding from the now inactive Egypt Fire District located in Lawrence County.
Some 15,295.00 will be divided up and awarded to the remaining qualifying fire departments across Lawrence County. Egypt Fire Department closed years ago and the funding from the ACT-833 paid to qualifying fire departments had been slowly accumulating. With help from State Rep. James Ratliff, Lawrence County OES Coordinator Buddy Williams and Walnut Ridge Fire Chief Frank Owens the funding will be paid out to other Lawrence County fire departments for needed equipment.
ACT-880 of 2011 gives the county judge the authority to declare a fire district inactive and to redistribute any left over funding to other departments in the county. The future for the inactive district will be decided over the next year. The Intergovernmental Cooperative Council will decide on where the future funding will be distributed.
The remaining district will be awarded to another fire department in the county as decided by the Lawrence County Quorum Court at a future date. The district has been serviced by the Hoxie Fire Department since the Egypt Fire Department closed.