What’s happening?
New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services is opening its doors and inviting community member to attend a fun and informative event this weekend.
In celebration of Fire Prevention Week, the fire department is holding an open house at its Glenbrook fire hall on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“It's an educational day out for the whole family,” said Keri Gilleard, an executive assistant/emergency planning assistant with New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services.
The open house promises to be informative – and fun.
“There will be lots of fun things for kids to do, and many prizes to be given away,” said fire Chief Erin Williams. “The New Westminster Firefighters’ Charitable Society will also be hosting a barbecue as well to make sure no one goes away hungry.”
Added Williams: “All of our staff have worked really hard to put on an exciting and successful event, so we hope to see a great crowd.”
Public safety focus:
This weekend’s open house will be like a one-stop shop to get information about assorted public safety topics.
“We have lots of different things going on,” Gilleard said.
New Westminster Fire and Rescue will be providing information about fire prevention and emergency management.
Representatives from the New Westminster Police Department, New Westminster parks and recreation and the New Westminster Public Library will also have displays at the event.
“The New West library will be here with like fire related books for adults and children,” Gilleard said. “They were here last year. It was a big success because they could check out the books from right there.”
Other agencies attending the open house include New Westminster Volunteers Services, BCAA and ICBC. Attendees will be able to get information about infant/child vehicle restraints, pedestrian safety and distracted driving.
“It's covering everything that's related to the safety in our city,” Gilleard said. “Fire prevention will have their part of it, but then we also invite all our community partners to come in as well.”
Earthshaking fun?
Favourite aspects of past open houses – including vehicles, displays and demonstrations – are returning, but this year’s event also features a visit from the “Quake Cottage.” Once folks are seated inside the trailer, it will begin to shake.
“That provides an educational experience of what it's like to go through a major earthquake,” Gilleard told the Record. “It says it's an 8.2 magnitude, and you do that for about 30 seconds. So we're going to have that set up here as well.”
Attendees will also be able to get information about emergency kits and preparing for earthquake.
Focus on first responders:
Williams said the fire department is extremely happy to invite the community to the Glenbrook Fire Hall and experience some of work firefighters do as first responders.
“We are also going to demonstrate the use of our new drone program, have crews perform a high-angle technical rescue demonstration, as well as a motor vehicle crash scenario where we extricate a trapped patient by cutting apart a car,” he said.
Gilleard said she hasn’t see the department’s new drone in action, and is looking forward to that demonstration.
“It's something brand new that we've just gotten, and select firefighters are being trained on,” she said. “If we need it at certain events, we have trained and certified drone people that can operate them. So we're going to have a TV set up, and you can see what the drone sees.”
What is the theme of Fire Prevention Week 2023?
Fire Prevention Week, which runs from Oct. 8 to 14, has a theme of Cooking Safety Starts With YOU: Pay Attention to Fire Prevention.
“Fire Prevention Week aims to educate people about the simple but important things they can do to keep themselves and those around them safe from fire,” Gilleard said.
At the open house, folks can pick up safety tip brochures and colouring activity sheets related to this year’s theme.
“Kitchen fires are a pretty big part of most firefighters’ careers,” Gilleard said.
Is there anything else I should know?
The open house is taking place at the Glenbrook Fire Hall, 1 East Sixth Ave. Because of construction of the təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre on the adjacent site, no on-site parking is available. People are encouraged to walk, bike or take transit.
