Last week, Jackson and a few friends took a tour of our local fire station. It was on my list of field trips for the summer and it was super fun! 
To start the tour, we watched a short cartoon. 
And then we took a tour of the facility. We got to see the bedrooms, weight room, dining room, the TV area. Of course our kiddos were most amazed by the THREE refrigerators.
And then came the REALLY fun part—checking out the fire trucks! There are so many compartments on the truck and lots of big tools and gadgets!
The kids got to climb up in the trucks
And practice driving!
They LOVED playing with the gadgets and levers!
The got to explore the back of the ambulance too!
Jackson was super excited to wear his fire helmet that day. But then he got to try on a real fire helmet! It was really heavy! And it had a flashlight—Jackson’s favorite part!
And right after we took this picture of the kids on the truck…
They got a call about a brush fire. So the kids got to watch the fire fighters suit up, load up, and take off!
And in case you didn’t notice the kids in the above pictures… this is what they looked like. The sirens were very loud.
The idea of touring a fire station came by a local cable guy who was very friendly about Jackson oohing-and-aahing over his work truck. {all you mothers of boys—you understand this!}. The man was a former fire fighter and he told me just to call and set up an appointment to go visit! That was almost 18 months ago. I was super nervous, but it was totally easy. I didn’t have to have a group {though we did go with a few friends} and I didn’t need a specific reason or anything. They were happy to do it… and apparently they do it often enough because they were total pros at letting the kids look/climb/talk. This would be a fun birthday party idea. {I read somewhere that October is Fire Safety month so it fills up quickly.}
Destination: Fire Station
Location: Local
Cost: Free!!
Pros: High interest!! It’s educational, introduces kids to the people who might need to help them, and a way to discuss fire safety.
Cons: There is always a possibility that the team may be called out during your scheduled appointment.
Time: We spent about an hour at the station.
Bring with you: camera!
Jackson still talks about going to the fire station. I’ve checked out several books about fire trucks/firemen/emergency vehicles from the library and so he’s really learning about how they can help people. I’m so glad we set this up! You should too!
