Fire Department open house

The Edina Fire Department held its 2008 annual Open House at the newly constructed Fire Station No. 1, 6250 Tracy Ave. Although an official count was not taken, visual estimates indicated that this was the largest resident turnout ever for the Department’s Open House.

People began arriving more than an hour before the official start-time of 12:30 p.m. and crowds were still going strong long after the 4 p.m. close.

While many people showed up for a chance to look through the new living quarters and administrative offices of the new station, the Department also held many of its usual demonstrations. The Open House provided attendees the opportunity to learn important fire safety tips and see the work of local firefighter/paramedics first-hand. It also gave the Fire Department the opportunity to say thank you to the community for its support throughout the year.

Highlights of the event included Edina’s Special Operations Team rappelling off Tower 90 more than 100 feet in the air and a demonstration of firefighters extricating victims from a mock car crash. For the second year in a row, attendees were able to witness the result of an improperly-handled grease fire first-hand as part of a very impressive and very real demonstration outlining the dos and don’ts pertaining to kitchen grease fires. The demo caused a number of people in the crowd to take a big step back as they felt the heat of a six-foot fire ball caused by dousing the fire with water.

Adults were invited to sit in on another very real demonstration showing how fast a fire can spread and how quickly built-in sprinklers can put it out. Inside the residential sprinkler trailer, people got a front row seat as they watched -- and felt the heat of -- a real fire as it grew and was eventually doused by the sprinkler system.

From the start of the event and throughout the afternoon, a long line of children waited for their turn to “extinguish” a fake house fire using a real fire hose. Informational displays on recreational fires, carbon monoxide and fire hydrants were interspersed throughout the station’s apparatus bays. Trucks, ambulances and equipment were also out for people to see. Sparky the Fire Dog was even on hand, wandering through the crowd and posing for photos with a few lucky kids.

This year’s Fire Prevention Week theme was ‘Prevent Home Fires.’ It’s important to get the message across that the true cause of almost every fire is people -- men, women and children. Everyone must be responsible for his or her own actions.

For more information on the Open House, contact the Edina Fire Department Fire Prevention Bureau at 952-826-0338.

For more information on Fire Prevention Week, visit www.firepreventionweek.org.