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Cossatot Community College |
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Cossatot Community College |
DE QUEEN – James Tornabene (TOR-nah-BAY-nay), Fire Training Instructor for the De Queen Branch of the Arkansas Fire Academy, located at Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas’s De Queen campus, announced today that the Branch has received a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) in the amount of $66,916.
Upon release of the news, Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark) said, “The fire training programs made possible by this grant are of great benefit, especially when it comes to teaching younger children the importance of fire safety. Not only will this program teach children what to do after a fire has started, it will also teach the public new methods of fire prevention. This is an excellent educational opportunity for both firefighters and children, and it will help make their communities safer places to live.”
Tornabene said, “The grant will purchase a fire safety trailer, which we will use to teach children in our nine-county service area how to safely escape a house fire, and to show local fire departments how to implement their own fire safety education programs. This program will also demonstrate to the public some of the latest fire-prevention equipment that is available for home use, and will distribute free smoke detectors to qualified families in our service area.”
Tornabene also announced that De Queen Ford-Chrysler has agreed to donate the use of a truck to pull the trailer for the first 90 days after it is received from (manufacturer). Other sponsors are being sought to provide matching funds to augment the smoke detector giveaway, and for the use of a vehicle to pull the trailer as it makes its rounds. For more information, contact Larry Moser, Division of Technology Chair, at 870-584-4471, Extension 150.
Tornabene also noted that he is seeking donations of square hay bales and a horse trailer for the Fire Training Program. The bales will be used to train firefighters in the “burn building”, which simulates conditions inside a burning house. The horse trailer will supply the foundation for a portable “cascade system”. In the event of a large-scale disaster in the nine-county service area, the “cascade system” is used to refill firefighters’ breathing air tanks.
Cossatot Community College offers both technical certification and Associate’s degrees in a wide range of fields on its campus at De Queen, at extension sites at Nashville and Ashdown, and at cccua.edu. It has an enrollment of more than 1,000 students, and is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Higher Learning.