HOT SPRINGS — Arkansas inmates will be used to assist fire and forestry officials in a planned controlled burn of overgrowth and debris behind buildings in Hot Springs.
Arkansas Department of Corrections spokeswoman Dina Tyler tells the Sentinel-Record that medium-security inmates from the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern have been cleared to participate in the project.
The Hot Springs Fire Department and the Arkansas Forestry Commission are coordinating the project. Tyler says the inmates will have officers that go with them. She says the inmates are used to going out in the community and that “they usually do a really good job.”
She says that because of security reasons, the exact date of the burn isn’t being announced. Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis says it will take place before Christmas, though.