Eli talks to pat about the event. (Dagley Media photo)

FALL RIVER: Smiles. Laughter. Fun. Education. And a piece of equipment that can be a life saver–for free.

It was all wrapped up in one big community event on April 28 at Station 45 Fall River under bright blue sunny skies.

Organizations such as EHS with a graduate from Camp Courage; Halifax Search and Rescue volunteers with Rescue 1; and Keloose volunteers for the community festival set for mid August were all on hand.

The Station 45 firefighters were giving out free fire extinguishers to the first 150 people in the lineup from Windsor Junction; Grand Lake; Oakfield; Fletchers Lake; Fall River; Goffs; Lakeview; Wellington; and Waverley.

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Firefighters helped run a Kids Fit Fire challenge which included an obstacle course and using a fire hose to knock down cutout flames, which our own Pat Healey tried as seen in the video; a BBQ was held; emergency preparedness kits info was available; firefighter hats were given to all who wanted one.

There was also information from FireSmart available. For more check out https://firesmartcanada.ca/

The event was made possible, said Station 45 Captain Nick Yeomans, because of the community’s support of the volunteers through the N.S. Firefighter 50-50 raffle run through Rafflebox.

Because of the support the department has been able to purchase equipment and thought they’d use some of it to hold the community open house.

From the turnout, he deemed the event a huge success.

Check out all the fun–including The Laker News’ Pat Healey getting in on it–in our video story:

Video sponsored by: Payzants Home Hardware Lower Sackville

VIDEO:

Fire extinguishers. (Dagley Media photo)

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Donald Landry with SAR. (Dagley MEDIA)

Rescue 1 from Halifax Search and Rescue (SAR) in Lakeview was at the event.

Rescue 1 is usually the first truck to roll when a call comes in from the police/fire agency.

The ability of this vehicle is to act as a command centre where the Search Manager can easily bring up maps, contact with other entities and full communications via radio. This vehicle enables a quick response and can easily transition over to the larger Command vehicle on its arrival to get boots on the ground quicker.

Rescue 1 is fully equipped with medical packs, Stokes basket and resources to assist with a subject until handover to EHS/Fire. Rescue 1 is often the first (or only) command centre used for wilderness remote rescue (WRT is a specialized team on call for first response before a full team callout) when HSAR is called to a known location for an injured hiker or missing person who identifies their location.

If more resources are required for an extrication, a full callout and transition can be effected as noted above.

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Pat runs with the fire hose towards the makeshift fire. (Dagley Media photo)
The water is sprayed from the fire hose by Pat. (Dagley Media photo)
Pat was presented the firefighter hat for extinguishing the flames. He now thinks he is a real firefighter. (Dagley Media photo)