Trip to the Fire Station

I decided this this week will be Fire Safety Week in our home.  To start things off with a bang, we went on a field trip to a local fire station.

This is a bell with a plaque on it. I believe they used to use bells to inform volunteer firefighters that there was a fire.  Of course nowadays, we use sirens and phones to inform about fires.

We got a wonderful tour of the fire truck. Several of the firefighters/paramedics showed us the hoses, the water tank, and the helmets and fire gear.  This particular truck carries something like 500 gallons of water so that if a fire hydrant isn't available, they can start hitting a blaze with water.  Incidentally, we don't have a fire hydrant very close to our house.  The firefighters said they would have to run a couple of miles away to another hydrant and keep filling up if our house had a fire.

And speaking of that, fires are relatively rare.  The people working at this station have 5 to 10 calls a day, on average, but fires are rare.  Most of their calls are for medical emergencies of some kind, with a particular focus on automobile accidents.

Here is a picture of fire axes and other fire paraphernalia.

This is the back of the paramedic truck.  There is room for a stretcher and there is wonderful equipment for checking heart behavior.  The machine that is used for evaluating heart issues costs $30,000.  Fascinating stuff.

They all wanted to sit in the big fire truck, so took turns doing so.  Here is Miriam.

And here is the back part of the cab of the big fire truck. 

We also got to see the little rooms where the firefighters sleep, their weight room where they keep in shape, and a large and pleasant kitchen.  It was all very clean and tidy.

And one last thing...they don't use fire poles anymore because people would sometimes hurt themselves going down them.  I asked why fire stations used to have second floors and they told me something I had never heard before! 

Back in the days before motors, fire engines were hauled to the scene by horses. So every fire station had teams of horses.  And apparently, the horses liked to be with the people and would climb stairs if they could. So fire stations were built with ladders going up, and poles going down.  That way, the people could have their own space without a horse trying to share their beds!

So, it was an interesting and educational trip.  I'm thankful that we have people around us willing to do the arduous and valuable job of being a firefighter/paramedic.