A night of sirens, lights and fun...

Children and their parents get ready for a ride through town on a fire truck during Thursday's open house.

Guests were greeted to the sounds of sirens and the sights of flashing lights as they gathered at the city fire station on Thursday during the community's biggest fire prevention gathering.

Hundreds of people packed into the fire station to enjoy an evening of fun at this year's open house. Fire officials estimated a record crowd in terms of children.

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

Isabell and Kailey Gronning give McGruff the Crime Dog "high fives" as the youngsters took part in the fire department's annual open house.

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.

People were already standing in line next to Fire Station 1 by 4:20 p.m. Thursday for a chance to meet with local fire fighters and to ride on one of the department's trucks. 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.

Sean Stevens was at the head of the line this year along with several family friends. The group arrived well ahead of time to avoid the crowds.

Children meet with Sparky the Fire Dog as they waited in line to ride a fire engine.

Stevens learned how long the waiting line got during last year's open house, so he planned on arriving early to ensure the children in his group had a chance to ride the fire trucks and to pick up their own toy fire helmets.

"I know you have to get here early to ride the fire trucks," said Clara Cook, whose children, Alex and Madison, were making their first visit to the fire station.

Meanwhile, Christina Gentry and her three children were marking their fourth consecutive visit to the open house.

"It says it starts at 5 o'clock, but you have to get here early," said Gentry, who knew her children would become impatient and start to complain if they ended up further back in the line.

Gentry's daughter, Lezlie, was excited about going to the open house simply because she knew it was a lot of fun.

"You get to go inside the fire station and you get to get your picture taken in front of a fire truck and then get some cookies," the nine year old said.

The firemen gave rides through 8:45 p.m. to make sure that every child that wanted one got a ride.

While children waited in line with their parents, most of them also took time to meet with McGruff the Crime Dog and Sparky the Fire Dog. While some youngsters were a bit hesitant about meeting the mascots, Isabell and Kailey Gronning took turns giving McGruff "high fives" with their hands before Kailey lunged forward to give the giant canine a big hug.

While most of the evening's visitors came from Mountain Home, Seth Christensen had traveled all the way from Castleford, Idaho. He attended the open house at the urging of his fiance, whose sister works for the Elmore Ambulance Service.

Looking at the crowd, Christensen admitted that he had never seen such a large fire prevention event.

Most of children at the open house agreed that being able to ride on top of a fire truck was the highlight of the evening.

"It was cool because I was really high up (on the truck)," said Hudson Zenner. It was the third year the youngster and his family had attended the open house.

"I like to ride the fire trucks, and I like to get treats," added Shayna Villeneuve as she held up a bag filled with assorted goodies.

Her mother, Tonya, admitted that her daughter kept urging her to go to the open house earlier that day.

"She was so excited and kept asking, 'can we go, can we go, can we go,' " Villeneuve said.

Following the fire truck rides, many children stood in line behind the Elmore Ambulance Service vehicle, which was converted into a makeshift haunted house. Volunteers spent more than seven hours that day to get the vehicle ready, which came complete with a fog machine for added effect.

"We wanted to do something different," said Tammy Wilson, one of the emergency medical technicians that ran the haunted ambulance.

Maddy Lutrell admitted that the ride on the fire truck was a lot of fun, but she was really hesitant about going into the haunted ambulance because she was scared.