COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah – The Unified Fire Department hosted an open house at the Cottonwood Heights fire station Saturday to educate the public about fire safety and give them training on what to do during an emergency.
Kids lined up to get a chance to spray the fire hose.
“They save people’s lives,” Jacen Bartlett, a young boy who attended the event, said about firefighters.
Firefighters gave people hands-on experience with some of the equipment.
“The month of October is fire prevention month,” said Robert Marriott, a firefighter with the Unified Fire Authority. “We wanted to open up our doors to the public and allow them to come in, get educated in fire prevention, CPR, and really just open up our doors to the community and the people that we serve.”
It was a chance for the community to get an up-close look at what firefighters do.
“Be safe with fire and never mess with fire,” Bartlett said. “It’s very dangerous.”
People learned CPR and what to do during a house fire.
“We deal with tragedy every day,” said Brian Anderton, battalion chief with Unified Fire Authority. “And so much of this tragedy can be minimized with the public’s just having a better idea of how to protect themselves in the home, by developing fire escape plans, by understanding how to perform first aid and CPR in the homes before we get on scene.”
Families who attended say they were grateful for the opportunity.
“This is super fun for Sunny, who is three years old, for him to meet all these firefighters and to touch and feel the actual fire engines that we see on the road is awesome!” said Jennifer Berg of Cottonwood Heights.
This is the first open house Unified Fire is doing, and they're hoping to try it out in other communities and make it an annual tradition so that people can learn more about their jobs.
