On Saturday, May 10, local fire stations welcomed families for NSW Fire and Rescue Open Day. Visitors were invited to grab a sausage sandwich, explore the fire trucks, have a turn on the hose, collect show bags and sign up for free fire detector installations.
The Flame visited stations at Helensburgh, Coledale and Thirroul, and visitors shared their thoughts.
Helensburgh
Les and Norman
Norman: “Open days are good for the local community, and let everyone know what's going on.”
Les: “It's a good thing there's open days, you get a free sausage sizzle. The community comes and asks questions. Kids love it, pushing buttons and playing with the radio.”
Coledale
Captain John Morrison
“It’s all about letting our community know that we’re available for them, we’re here. They can come see our shiny new station – it’s a very old station, we’ve been around for close to 100 years, but recently refurbished. We’re showing people around, they get to see how we operate and our fire pump – most people call it a truck, but we call it a pump.”
David, Joanne, Liam and Brett
What brings you to open day?
Joanne: “Well our son Liam is a member here. We just wanted to have a look at all the changes since their renovations, and have a look around. We learnt what all the different parts of the truck do.”
David: “I found it particularly interesting to find out what [the truck] actually does and carries, and all the different scenarios they can cover, with different types of stuff.”
What makes Liam a good member of the team at Coledale Station?
Member Brett: “Liam is a good member of the team here. He’s a good listener, he’s a good cook, he’s patient and he’s keen to learn. He allocates a lot of his time to us, and it’s hard to get people to do that. We only have to do 24 hours a week and he always does more than that. He’ll always help out with station duties, which is good because it’s hard to get 4 or 5 people on deck usually.”
What made you want to join Fire and Rescue?
Liam: “I really just want to help out. Growing up here, I’ve always really loved the area. It’s always good to help the community.”
Thirroul
Melissa and Anthony
"Anthony loves fire engines and everything about it, so we thought we’d come out and say hello.”
Jude, Tom, Layla
Layla had a turn at the firehose, and said she enjoyed “the long jet” setting the best.
Tom: “Layla just calls out to everyone's fire truck she sees when we’re driving in the car, so we thought we’d come see what’s inside.”
