Representatives from the Van Buren County Office of Emergency Management have accepted a $10,000 donation from BHP Billiton Petroleum to assist with the purchase of new communications equipment for volunteer fire departments in the county.
“I am very pleased to be working in partnership with BHP Billiton on our communication initiatives,” said Roger Hooper, Van Buren County judge. “The result will better enhance the communication needs for all of the Van Buren County Fire and Rescue agencies. It really takes committed community partners, such as BHP, to make our communities a safer place to live.”
The Federal Communications Commission has required that volunteer fire departments, many of which serve rural areas, upgrade to narrow-banding communications equipment. Narrow-banding equipment is the change of bandwidth that channels must operate on to receive emergency signals.
“We greatly respect the important responsibility that the Office of Emergency Management and Judge Hooper have in helping the residents of Van Buren County during emergencies, and we hope this will make their jobs easier in protecting our fellow Arkansans,” said Danny Games, external affairs manager at BHP Billiton.
