Firestone celebrates facility expansion

A Southwest Arkansas plant celebrates the expansion of its Prescott facility and the addition of about 100 new jobs.

Governor Mike Beebe and U.S. Congressman Mike Ross were on hand for the celebration.

More than 40 years ago, Firestone Building Products located to Prescott.

Now they've expanded their facility by more than 52,000 square feet, retained about 400 jobs and added 100 more.

"What it says about Southwest Arkansas is that we have workers that know what they are doing. They do it right and work hard," said Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe.

Beebe says the expansion is not just an investment for Prescott, but will benefit the entire state.

According to Firestone President Tim Dunn, the project cost about $36 million dollars.

"It is state of the art and it's the largest EPDM facility in the world," said Dunn.

The company almost pulled out of Arkansas about two years ago.

A number of government organizations offered incentives to keep the synthetic roofing materials plant in the state.

Mayor Terry Oliver says closing the plant would have shut down the town.

In 2010, Firestone built a brand new $100,000 dollar science center at Prescott Elementary School.

The company also celebrated one million hours worked without a lost-time accident