TOLLETTE – The historic Tollette Town Hall/former school sustained significant damage in a Saturday evening fire. Multiple fire departments from Howard & Hempstead Counties responded and were able to confine the fire to the attic and prevent the spread to the brick and wood structure. Among the responding fire units were Saratoga, Yancey, Mineral Springs, County Line, Nashville, and Tollette, along with Pafford EMS, Howard County Sheriff’s Deputies, and Southwest Arkansas REA were on scene. Upwards to near two dozen emergency vehicles at one time was on scene.
Tollette Mayor Brenda Porter told Hope-Prescott News she was leaving Texarkana when a citizen called her and said smoke was coming from the building. She told the individual to call 911. That led to the multiple unit response. That mutual aid request led the Nashville Fire Department to provide a ladder truck, which was used by firemen to establish a position on the roof to get water to the fire.
The community room part of the Town Hall had been used earlier in the day for a funeral repast. Mayor Porter said she had stopped by the repast after 3:00 pm. then stopped by a second repast at the Saratoga School Multipurpose Building before going to Texarkana. She said the call of smoke from the building was received at 6:25 pm.
Mayor Porter stated that much of the ceiling had fallen in because of water from the firefighting effort. She said Monday morning she will be in touch with the Arkansas Municipal League, who provides insurance for the town.
The Tollette Town Hall building is the former Howard County Training School, which closed in 1971. It was constructed in 1938 by the federal WPA program.
Howard County Judge Brent Pinkerton had the following statement: “If only…. everyone supported each other like our volunteer fire departments support each other. Multiple departments have been in Tollette tonight working on a fire at the school building/city hall. As that was winding down, more fire trucks, again from multiple departments, have been dispatched to a brush fire on the south end of Nashville.”
Photos by Denise Thomas ↑
Photos by Kadijah Miller ↑
Undated image of Tollette Town Hall/Howard County Training School