The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry recently announced that three area communities have been awarded grants to fund continued rural fire department improvements.

Sen. John Sparks said the City of Lexington will receive a $10,000 grant, the Town of Slaughterville will receive a $10,000 grant and the Cedar Country Fire Protection District will receive a $15,000 grant.

The grants are administered through the Department of Agriculture's Rural Fire Protection Matching Grant Program and assist fire departments in upgrading equipment and facilities. Sparks said the grants would help the departments continue to protect rural communities in the area.

"Our firefighters place themselves in danger to keep our families safe and should be commended for their hard work," Sparks, D-Norman said. "I have always believed the state must make a commitment to providing support for rural firefighting efforts and I'm pleased these departments are receiving these grants. They will fund important upgrades that will allow the departments to continue providing valuable service to our communities."

The agriculture department's grant program was established to provide assistance to rural fire departments in all 77 counties.

"With Oklahoma's rural communities growing, providing for rural fire defense must remain a priority for the legislature," Sparks said. "I'm pleased the Department of Agriculture has approved grant awards for these exemplary rural fire departments and I'll continue working to ensure my fellow legislators understand the importance of our rural fire departments and what they do for our communities."

Marsha Blair, Slaughterville town administration and volunter fire fighter said she was excited to receive the grant.

"Slaughterville's portion will enable us to purchase much needed wildland/extrication protective clothing for each of our volunteer firefighters and educational materials to teach fire safety and awareness to both children and adults," she said. "We sincerely appreciate the grant which will benefit our entire community."

On another note, Blair said they had a little grant money left that was to be used to clean up illegal dump sites and they used it to clean up three different subidivisions.

Blair hopes to be able to get more grants.

"We made a lot of citizens real happy," she said.

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