Fire Safety Fun Tour for Everyone

Fire Safety Fun Tour for Everyone

Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent

Vegreville Fire Department, (VFD) hosted an Open House at the Vegreville Fire Hall on May 14 with approximately 200 people in attendance.

The Open House featured a meet and greet with the firefighters, a tour of the fire hall, grease fire and Jaws of Life demonstrations, fund raising car wash and barbeque.

Proceeds from the event will go to Vegreville Firefighters Club which has earmarked funds for its training centre, fire extinguisher training, bicycle maintenance station, and kids’ station with free giveaways.

Coordinators of the event were Lieutenant Amanuel Webeshet and Caption Marshall McKenzie.

Families and children participate in the activities.

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

Webeshet said they hosted this event because they hadn’t held an open house for a long time, and they wanted to open their doors to the public to come and see them and show what they have to offer. “We also wanted to share some of the household safety practices and also give a chance for the kids to come and tour the station and have fun. It was mostly for the kids and parents and the public to have fun.”

Webeshet said highlights were of the car wash, grease fire demonstration and vehicle extrication.

Families and children participate in the activities.

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

When asked what the best way to put out a grease fire, Webeshet replied, “You need to cover it or put a lid on it. But when you lift up the lid, it will ignite itself again. So, you have to put the lid back on and leave it there for a few minutes and make sure the stove is off. This is the best way to put it out. Definitely don’t use water on it! Using baking soda to put on top of the fire will also work to put out the fire.”

McKenzie said they held this event because they thought since the COVID-19 pandemic it has been a long time since anyone hosted an event. “We felt we would do some public relations and public education stuff.” Altogether they sold 90 hamburgers and 90 hot dogs. “We don’t have the total of the amount we raised for this fundraiser but the car wash raised a total of $640.

This young girl gets to try out the fire hose.

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

Overall, I think everybody was pretty happy with this event. We had lots of volunteers who worked quite hard to do it. So, I am pretty happy with the volunteers’ efforts,” added McKenzie.