SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP — Despite wearing her brightly colored fluffy dress, 5-year-old Charlotte Meyer was not going to pass on the chance to climb up into the driver’s seat of the county’s SWAT truck. The unit’s driver’s-side door being a couple feet off the ground was hardly a challenge for Charlotte, who was able to get into the driver’s seat within seconds.
“She keep telling me she wants to be a firefighter,” her mother, Lindsey Meyer, said. “She’s the youngest of three and she’s the bravest.”
The opportunity to climb on the county’s SWAT truck, fire trucks and even take a seat in an old Indy race car were just some of the things families were able to take part in at the Annual Sugar Creek Township Fire (SCTFD) and Life Safety Open House.
“This is our Super Bowl,” SCTFD Chief Brandon Kleine said. “Anytime we can get the community to come out and see what we do and ask questions and we can put some smiles on kid’s faces, it’s what we want to do because this is the core of what we’re here for.”
Kleine joked when he noted the department has been hosting the event for long enough where they’ve been able to hire kids who were first introduced to the fire department when they were in school.
“This event is more than just about awareness for our fire department,” Kleine said. “We’ve got a big school bus here little kids can climb into, someone from the State Fire Marshal’s office is here, the SWAT team is here, and several other community organizations.”
The annual event was held this past Saturday at SCTFD Station 45, located at 3545 S 600 W, New Palestine. The event attracted hundreds of area residents who came out to share a day filled with health and safety advocate opportunities and fun activities.
From seeing the Stat Flight Medical helicopter and its flight staff to meeting some of the county’s law enforcement officers, the Open House gave adults a chance to acclimate their children to first responders.
Life Safety and Public Education instructor Beth Gulley puts the annual Open House together each year and noted the event is all about helping the fire department get life safety messages out there.
“Our whole department takes part in this,” Gulley said. “If you look around here, you’ll see it’s not just fire safety as we’ve got folks from injury prevention sponsored by Peyton Manning, the AG’s office has someone here to warn people about fraud and things of that nature.”
Gulley noted friends of the department brought in an old fashioned Indy Car and allowed kids to sit in the driver’s seat.
“Something like that promotes helmet safety for us,” Gulley said.
For the families, it was a chance for them to let their kids hold a fire hose, see some safety demonstrations and climb into a real fire truck. Officials also handed out free bike helmets while supplies lasted and gave kids free snow cones.
“I wanted to bring my kids here because someone day if they ever have to have an encounter a firefighter, so something like this they won’t be so scared of it,” Lindsey Meyer said.
All the families had a chance to sign up for a free bicycle for their child. The department gave away two new bicycles, with a firefighter selecting the winners out of the entry jar Monday.
Officials also gave patrons a chance to ride on their vintage fire truck, which is about 85 years old. A couple of firefighters assigned the job of ferrying patrons from the parking lot well behind the fire department to the open house was fun for the firefighters too.
“Let’s hop on and take her for a spin,” SCTFD firefighter Kenny Gulley said of the old truck, which squeaked as she rolled by. “She’ll be turning 100 years old in about 15 years.”
