Mt. Pleasant Fire Department holds Open House

The Mt. Pleasant Fire Department held an open house Wednesday, allowing the community members to walk through the fire station.

One of the main reasons the fire department decided to have the open house on this specific week was in large part due to Fire Prevention Week.

For the department, it's essential to teach the kids about fire safety.

"I think all of us up here believe that it's pretty important to teach kids about fire safety," a volunteer said. "It's Fire Prevention Seek. This year's theme for fire prevention week is ‘The Sounds of Fire Safety.’"

Going to the schools is one of the key ways they teach students about being safe.

"When we went to the schools Monday and Tuesday, it was teaching them what the sounds of fire safety are," volunteer Aaron Dorothy said. "The big thing this year is a smoke detector. Knowing what a smoke detector is and what they should do when that goes off. To stop drop and roll, and having an exit plan, getting out and staying out, those are all important points that we want everyone to think about."

The open house featured numerous stations for children to better understand what it's like being a firefighter.

Kids got the chance to stop drop and roll, spray and roll the fire hoses, and even trying on the firefighting gear.

For the department, it's great that so many people in the community are taking notice and are enjoying the event.

"The last year and a half, everyone's been cooped up and shutdown, and so it's pretty cool to have people out," Dorothy said. "It's nice to see that people are coming out and taking an interest in it. We've talked about things in the future, like a junior firefighter program for high schoolers. If one of these kids here today that's spraying a hose is like, I can't wait to do that, and someday they do join, it's totally worth everything we're doing."

Comments: hunter.moeller@southeastiowaunion.com