A day at the fire hall

The Kelowna Fire Department opened its doors on Sunday for its sixth-annual open house and pancake breakfast to benefit the Kelowna Professional Firefighters Charitable Society.

“Every year we open our doors, our Emergency Response Team from the Salvation Army cooks up pancakes, we have a number of demonstrations and it's about us having the public in, meeting the firefighters face to face and seeing the kind of work we do,” explained  Kelowna fire Chief Jeff Carlisle.

“At the same time, there is a lot of public education in terms of fire safety in your home, it is a big community event for us. We typically have 1,000 people come for breakfast and it's a great event.”

He said the firefighters love the chance to interact with the public and even use some local politicians in their demonstrations.

“We had MP Stephen Fuhr doing the high-angle technical rescue, Coun. Brad Sieben did the simulation for the auto extraction. Lots of politicians here,” said Carlisle.

For those who attended the event and for those who didn't, Carlisle wants you to remember one thing.

“Check your smoke alarm at least twice a year.”  

Photo: Carmen Weld