More than hot dogs and high fives
Wiscasset’s Tim Pearson helps grandson Nelson Jones down from a window after Jones’ trip through a series of smoky rooms at Dresden Fire Department’s open house Oct. 1. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Sonia Pearson, left, of Wiscasset picks up a hot dog prepared by Dresden Fire Department member Pat Theriault and Assistant Chief Ron Theriault at the department’s open house October 1. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Lincoln Vannah, 2, of Dresden, looks out from Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency’s incident command trailer at the Dresden Fire Department’s open house on Oct. 1. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
At Dresden Fire Department’s open house Oct. 1, Sparky exchanges high fives with Skylynn Garnett, 4, of Dresden. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Wiscasset’s Tim Pearson helps grandson Nelson Jones down from a window after Jones’ trip through a series of smoky rooms at Dresden Fire Department’s open house Oct. 1. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Sonia Pearson, left, of Wiscasset picks up a hot dog prepared by Dresden Fire Department member Pat Theriault and Assistant Chief Ron Theriault at the department’s open house October 1. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Lincoln Vannah, 2, of Dresden, looks out from Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency’s incident command trailer at the Dresden Fire Department’s open house on Oct. 1. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
At Dresden Fire Department’s open house Oct. 1, Sparky exchanges high fives with Skylynn Garnett, 4, of Dresden. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Stacey and Eric Vannah of Dresden want their son Lincoln, 2, to start learning early how to stay safe in an emergency. So on Oct. 1, the Dresden family joined other area residents at the Dresden Fire Department’s open house. Other fire departments came, too, bringing their trucks and equipment from neighboring Wiscasset, Woolwich and Randolph and as far as Bath, West Bath and Brunswick.
Dresden firefighter Pat Theriault made gingersnaps and chocolate chip cookies for visitors. She looks forward to the event every year.
“It’s a thank you to the townspeople for supporting us, and educational, and we just have a good time. It’s a community night,” she said.
Theriault and her husband, Assistant Fire Chief Ron Theriault, manned a grill; other firefighters ran door prize drawings, and a Sparky dog mascot exchanged high fives with some of the youngest event-goers. But the fun time on a crisp fall night was about more than the hot dogs and high fives.
As always, the annual open house was a chance to put a spotlight on safety.
Dresden firefighters took visitors through Brunswick Fire Department’s “Safety House” that has a series of rooms with a light layer of smoke, doors to feel for heat, and, at the end, a window to climb out.
One of the doors on the tour is heated.
“You can feel the difference (from) the other doors. So once they feel that, they’ll know that they cannot go through because that’s a potential of danger behind that door,” Dresden firefighter Tyler Cray said. “That could mean there’s fire on the other side.”
Fellow Dresden firefighter Ashley Garnett, standing near the window exit with daughter Skylynn Garnett, 4, nearby, said families should apply what they learn to their own plans for escaping a fire at home, and practice it.
“Everybody should have more than just one way to get out of their house. So the more you practice, the safer it is, so that way your kids and everybody knows how to get out. Just keep practicing,” she said.
The lessons event-goers were picking up could save a life, Cray said.
“It absolutely could. With the more knowledge that they have, it’s the better chance of survival.”
Stacey Vannah appreciated her town’s fire department holding the event.
“I think sometimes we forget how important these safety issues are, and we need to pay attention to them,” she said as her son, wearing a red, plastic firefighter’s helmet, stood aboard Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency’s incident command trailer.
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