Firetrucks!

Sean had a fire truck come to his school today! He got to squirt out a fire with a real fireman's hose! I asked him, "Was it a real fire?" He said, "Yes!" I said, "Sean are you sure it was real?" Sean said, "Well, you couldn't really see it, but it was real!" Just what I thought! He also kept saying that he "knocked down" the fire. So, I am thinking it was a piece of wood made to look like a fire or something! He got one of those cool plastic helmets and wore it all day!

Then boys got to go to an open house at our local fire station - they had so much fun! What could get better than fire trucks! The kids were allowed to climb up in them and look closely at the gear. Some of the trucks had all of their equipment doors open and some had their ladders all the way extended! I have seen fire trucks many times and seen fires on the news, but I never knew how high the ladders went! They had to reach up to at least eight or nine stories high! Brian Jr. said, "Mom, you could never get me to climb that ladder!" Me either!

They got some free fire house stuff - notebooks, coloring books, pens, Frisbees, balls, fire hats, tattoos, and stickers. They got to squirt a fire hose too - not the really big ones, but one of the smaller ones! Sean had done it this morning at school too - so he was a pro and was turning on the hose before the fireman told him how! They got to aim at a wooden building with fire in the windows, when they squirted the fire, the "fire" was pushed out of the window and then when the water was taken away, it swung back into the window!

They also had a smoke house there too. A fireman took in small groups of kids and taught them about staying low and feeling the back of doors before you open them. Then they crawled up steps in a mini-house. They each got to feel the door and went in. When they went in the room, it filled up with fog to simulate smoke. The kids had to keep low and find the window to climb out onto a balcony. Then they had to climb down a ladder to safety.

The last thing was a "jaws-of-life" demonstration. They had a fireman in the cart - with a hard hat on! And the firemen took apart the car with saws and the jaws-of-life! They boys thought is was really interesting. After they got the roof off Brian said, "Cool a convertible!" An EMT standing behind us said, "Not a good way to turn your car into a convertible!" Sean asked, "If they are tearing apart the car, why didn't they just blow it up?" Um - Sean there are and would be people inside! It was a fun night!

Brian and Sean

more firetrucks
extended ladder
climbing into a truck
Justin in a fire chief hatBrian putting out firesSean putting out firesclimbing out the balconyBrian climbing down the ladderSean climbing down the ladderjaws of life demsonstation sawing through the rooftaking off the roofgetting the people out