Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Jan. 30, 2025 – Craighead County received a new weapons of mass destruction response vehicle, allowing for prompt response to emergencies.

The vehicle is funded through monies from the Department of Homeland Security and the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management to implement anti-terrorism measures. For this year and last, the grant funds provided just shy of one million dollars to Craighead County, all of which were fully reimbursed, according to a press release from Craighead County.

The vehicle allows the Jonesboro Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials team to respond to “weapons of mass destruction events,” which according to Anthony Coy, Craighead County Director of Emergency Management, could be a situation that deals with unknown substances that could be harmful to the public.

“Many times, the focus is not really the weapon,” Coy said. “The focus is the terrorism component and that could be anything from an unknown substance on a salad bar at the restaurant to white powder in somebody’s mail to a fire that burns that when the fire is out, they start seeing some things that they don’t know what it is.”

In addition to the vehicle, the grant also allowed Craighead County Emergency Management to purchase the following:

  • Comms/support vehicle
  • Eight different pieces of portable equipment that can detect hazardous substances in solid, liquid, and vapor forms
  • Personal protective equipment for the team responders consisting of suits, boots, and gloves
  • Software providing current hazardous materials databases and response precautions
  • Swabs and vials to collect samples of unknown substances
  • On-site training for the team members for specific pieces of equipment
  • Self-contained breathing equipment for team members to utilize during response

Coy said his office will be working to acquire more training, personal protective equipment and portable radios.

There are five anti-terrorism response teams across five regions in Arkansas funded through this grant. Jonesboro serves the northeast region, Fayetteville serves the northwest region, Fort Smith serves the west central area, Little Rock the central region and El Dorado the southern region.

The Jonesboro Fire Department will be providing personnel and expertise for the regional response team, making Craighead County eligible for federal funds to equip and train the team. The northeast response area covers 17 counties in the northeast corner of the state.

When the vehicle and equipment are not responding to an incident with a potentially unknown substance in another county, the equipment can be used in Craighead County to support the Jonesboro Hazardous Materials.

“The thing I’m most proud of is that equipment is here in Craighead County every day of the year, of the week,” Coy said. “If we need, it can respond quickly to something we have here and that’s a great service that we can provide.”