Educating little fire-fighters

I've known of these Fire Station visits for a while through friends, but never actually got down to visiting and I'm glad we got the chance to do this today. To those who aren't aware, Fire Station Open Houses are every Saturday (except Jurong Fire Station) between 9am to 11am. More information here. 

That's Eddie. He was our guide for the morning and he was very kind to the kids. That's him trying to engage Jake who was seemingly paying attention but I think he was pretty distracted and in awe of the sirens and ambulances all about the parade square. 

Everyone had a chance to try spritzing the powerful water hose. 

Riding the Red Rhino.

We received an education about the full fire-fighting gear (hard helmet, thick protective bodysuit, oxygen tank and safety boots with metal to protect their feet. I didn't know about the metal plates in the boots!)... & that's Jake in his hulk tee with abs (just as sart sart, in my opinion)

Chance to clamour into an ambulance. While we were there, there were two "turnouts"; their term used for a call - not sure if it's a fire - but the men were dispatched to the scene of incident to render assistance. The kids watched in awe as the shutters went up and ambulance zoomed out of the Fire House. 

Watched a demonstration of how the fire-fighters use the pole to exit quickly (that's a 4-man satay, haha)

Chance to ride the fire truck and climb all about on the inside

I think it was a morning well-spent and though we got rained out, it was still extremely educational and fun!

The husband commented that it's such an investment of time and commitment for the open houses to be held every single Saturday. I think it's great and I definitely appreciate the time that these men who are serving our nation take to spend talking to our kids and educating them (and us adults, alike). One key out-take I got from this morning was how we should not take our national safety and calm for granted; that while we can enjoy the peace and our daily lives with minimum fuss and worry, it's because we have men (all military alike, not just the SCDF) who are on duty to protect our home. 

The other is that there are people who dial 995 for fun, for mis-use and still, every single call gets attended to as an emergency and nothing ever gets taken lightly for. 

Kudos to these men, all men, and I can't help but feel thankful for our safe nation.