An auto extrication and a high-angle rescue demonstration will be featured during the New Westminster Fire and Rescue Service’s open house.
The fire department is holding its annual open house on Sunday, Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Glenbrook fire hall. The open house features live demonstrations, equipment displays, tours of the fire safety house, a visit from Sparky the fire dog and ALI from E-Comm, a barbecue (by donation) with proceeds going to the New Westminster Firefighters’ Charitable Society, as well as prize draws.
“We have an exciting bunch of activities taking place,” said firefighter Kathy Ius. “We have interactive displays with various agencies, community partners, we work with.”
B.C. Ambulance Service, New Westminster Police Department, the Victims Services Unit and the Community Policing Unit, will be among the partner agencies on hand to showcase what they offer the City of New Westminster and how they work with the fire department.
“We have a couple of different demonstrations we are going to feature,” Ius said. “The first one is an auto extrication exercise, which we are going to try and re-enact in real time.”
The exercise, which gets underway at 10:50 a.m., will begin with the fire department getting dispatched to a call, and continue with the various fire crews and emergency responders attending in a simulated way, and extricating someone from a car.
“We want to send a message about the story behind the driver – I don’t want to give it away,” Ius said. “We want to explain and show why it is when there are certain MVAs, there are so many emergency vehicles.”
In the afternoon, fire crews will do a high-angle rescue demonstration that shows how firefighters can do rescues.
The open house is the kickoff event to Fire Prevention Week, which runs from Oct. 5 to 11.
“Needless to say, we are going to have a display on all things fire prevention,” Ius said. “This year’s theme is, working alarms save lives.”
The Glenbrook fire hall is located at 1 East Sixth Ave., next to Canada Games Pool and the recycling depot.
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