Record crowds attend fire station open house

Charles Lynch and sisters Lezlie and Adrianna Gentry give Sparky the Fire Dog a hug during last week's firemens' open house.

Record-shattering crowds packed into the city's main fire station to enjoy an evening of fun during an open house Thursday evening.

Held in conjunction with National Fire Prevention Week, the annual event wrapped up a series of activities in local-area schools aimed at spreading fire safety messages.

The longest running public health and safety observance on record, it commemorates the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that killed more than 250 people and left more than 100,000 others homeless, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Passengers climb aboard one of the station's fire trucks as they prepare for a ride through Mountain Home.

Last week's turnout this easily exceeded last year's record crowd, said Mountain Home Fire Chief Alan Bermensolo. According to final crowd estimates, the station had more than 2,000 people attend last week's event, including roughly 1,600 children.

"This thing keeps growing, and we're happy to keep doing it for the community, Bermensolo said. "We really appreciate how the public comes out and supports this event."

The fire chief also thanked local area schools and preschools, who hosted special fire prevention observances during the week featuring presentations by local fire fighters.

Crowds were lined up around Station 1 as early as 4 p.m. that day as they waited for their turn to ride a fire truck.

People were already standing in line next to Fire Station 1 as early as 4 p.m. Thursday for a chance to meet with local fire fighters and to ride on one of the department's trucks, said Brian Reed from the local fire station.

Paul LaTara and his family were already waiting at the station by 4:30 p.m.

"We figured they'd be a line," said LaTara, whose family marked the third straight year that they came to the open house.

By the time the open house officially opened at 5 p.m., the line of people led from the station down East 2nd South Street and continued around the corner.

"We wanted to get here early so we could get home in time for dinner, said Christina Gentry as her children, Adrianna, Lezlie and Bryce, met with McGruff the crime prevention dog inside the station.

As people waited, they had a chance to pick up free hot dogs cooked up by the city fire fighters. Many of the hot dogs and buns served that day were donated by Paul's Market and Franz Bakery. Meanwhile, the station served 1,400 half pints of milk donated by the United Dairy Association of Idaho.

According to Bermensolo, the department served 900 hot dogs that evening and nearly ran out of their supply of milk and cookies. In addition, members of the local Citizens on Patrol unit handed out hundreds of toy fire helmets and badges along with fire safety pamphlets and other information.

The lure of riding a fire truck was more than an incentive for youngsters like Charles Lynch, who urged his parents to attend the open house."We got a note from his school talking about the open house," said his mother, Nikalena Lynch. "He told me, 'Mom, I want to ride the trucks'."

"We get to ride on a fire truck 'cause it looks fun," added Olivia Berger, who called last week's open house a "fire party."

"There was no forgetting the 'fire party' was tonight," said her father, Jeff Berger. It was something his daughter immediately wanted to attend once she got the invitation from the fire department earlier that week.

Taryn Luther was all smiles as she climbed off one of the trucks after it returned from its brief run on the city's south side. The six-year-old had only one word to describe the experience -- "fun."

"It was awesome," said Zachary Brown, who got to ride up front with one of the fire fighters. The seven-year-old was one of several children that came dressed for the occasion. He wore a fire fighting costume made by his mother.

After riding on the fire trucks, many of the youngsters stopped by the ambulance display next to the station. As the children stepped inside, emergency medical technicians like Ryan Swearingen from the Elmore Ambulance Service explained how their equipment worked. The EMTs then allowed youngsters like Emily Lulay to take a "ride" on one of their stretchers.

Eddie the Eagle -- the mascot of a gun safety program sponsored by the National Rifle Association, taught kids never to touch guns as a way to keep them safe,.

With people still waiting in line throughout the evening, the fire department stopped running the sirens and lights on their trucks by 8:15 p.m. but continued to let people ride until the last children left the station at 8:40 p.m.

"We didn't turn anybody back," Bermensolo said.