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The Pike County Commission approved a deal with the Pike County Board of education that will pave the way for a volunteer fire district in Shellhorn.

Pike County Administrator McKenzie Wilson said there were two areas in Pike County that didn’t have coverage by volunteer fire departments — Shellhorn and Needmore. She said the Pike County Board of Education had a piece of property in Shellhorn adjacent to the Pike County Sheriff’s office Shooting range.

She said the commission reached a deal with the board of education to take over the Shellhorn property in return for a long-term lease on the county’s district attorney’s office. However, she said, before the BOE would be given a lease, the district attorney’s office would have to move into the county’s new judicial complex. Construction on the judicial complex isn’t scheduled to begin for about six to eight weeks.

Wilson said the BOE plans to use the building as an annex.

Wilson also said Tommy and Brenda Peacock had donated a small section of land to be used for a volunteer fire department in Needmore.

Wilson said Meeksville Volunteer Fire Department was looking to expand its coverage area into Shellhorn. She said a new building would be built on a piece of land near the shooting range. She said Meeksville had already ordered a fire truck for Meeksville Station No. 2, as it will be called.

Once fire operations are up and running in Needmore and Shellhorn, Wilson said the entire county will have fire coverage.