On Oct. 19, 2006, Unity Frost Prairie became the first Certified Firewise Community/USA in Ashley County. A luncheon and recognition ceremony was held Dec. 14, 2006 in the Garden View Room of the Clinton Presidential Libary.

Accepting the plaque and highway signs on behalf of the community of Unity-Frost Prairie were (pictured at right) Dan Kersey, FireWise board member; Judy Kersey,  FireWise board member; Nelsene Tutt, FireWise board member and Fred Tutt, Unity-Frost Prairie Fire Chief. (Also pictured are Jody Perritt, Ashley County Ranger; John Shannon, State Forester; Glen Fortenberry, Fire Team Leader, Ouachita & Ozark-St. Francis National Forests; Michele Steinberg, Firewise Communities Support Manager; and Don McBride, Assistant State Forester-Protection, and Joe Friend, District Forester-District 1.)

For the community's first project, a Firewise Day was hosted Oct. 7, and six firefighters bush-hogged and trimmed limbs and trees on approximately 2 1/2 miles of fire lanes built by the Arkansas Forestry Commission in 2003 (photos below). Firewise literature was also made available that day at the Unity-Frost Prairie Fire Station.

Attending the introductory Unity-Frost Prairie FireWise Board meeting were (pictured at right): Fire Chief Fred Tutt, Captain Wade Barnett, training officer Mac New and firefighters Fred Akin, Hank Rick, Thomas Todd, Calvin Griffis, James Rhodes, Don Greene, Darrin Cooley, Alvin Cassity, Jacob Tankersley, Nathaniel Miller, Phillip Tankersley, Earl Murphy, and Dean Marcus.

Representing the Arkansas Forestry Commission's Arkansas FireWise Team were Joe Friend, Kevin Kilcrease, and David Samuel.

The first part of the September 2005 FireWise program provided information on how Unity-Frost Prairie could become a Firewise Community/USA followed by training in conducting wildfire risk assessments on homes in the wildland/urban interface.