The Prince Rupert Fire Department held its open house on Saturday, attracting large crowds to check out the various activities and displays.
The PRFD was capping off Fire Prevention Week, which had involved a tour of all the elementary schools in town to give lessons on fire safety to kids. There were more lessons on hand at the open house, this time many of them being hands on. Kids got the opportunity to climb in the fire trucks, spray the fire hose to put out a pretend fire, and tour the fire hall and fire museum.
(Alex Kurial / The Northern View) |
“It’s a chance for the community to come in and see their fire station and fire trucks and meet our amazing team of firefighters,” Chad Cooper, deputy fire chief with the PRFD, said. “We get to show them around the hall, they get to check out the different trucks and different equipment, even Sparky was here today.”
The afternoon featured a pair of charity cheque presentations as well. One of these will be going to the B.C. Burn Fund, after the fire department raised $7,500 at their annual golf scramble in July. The event featured more than 100 golfers, and brought in more than double the haul of 2018.
READ MORE: STORY AND VIDEO: Record haul at Firemen’s Scramble
A second cheque was presented to KidSport Prince Rupert, a charity that works to ensure all kids have the opportunity to play organized sports. The amount was $4,052.35, which was raised at the 11 annual Guns and Hoses hockey game between the fire and police departments in March. The RCMP took the tilt in a shootout, winning the game for the first time in five years.
“We’re generally better than the police, but this year we lost. Graciously of course,” James Daniele, president of the IAFF Local 559, said.
READ MORE: Prince Rupert RCMP Guns take the trophy
(Alex Kurial / The Northern View) |
(Alex Kurial / The Northern View) |
Between the open house and the school visits, Cooper says this was another successful Fire Prevention Week.
“We got to reach out to a lot of children this week and spread the fire safety message to them,” Cooper said. “A lot of them already had the messaging down to heart, so it was good to see that everyone’s taking fire safety seriously.”
“I want to thank the community for coming out and supporting the fire department,” Cooper concluded.
Alex Kurial | Journalist
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