MARGATE – The Fire Department held its annual open house for the city’s youngest citizens Wednesday evening in the parking lot behind the Margate Public Library.
According to Fire Chief Dan Adams, who provided the children with some important lessons on fire safety, the event has been held “for at least 20 years,” he said, although the event was not held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Adams welcomed families and as children sat on the large blue mat, they learned how to crawl under the smoke in the event of a fire. He started out by releasing the sound of a smoke alarm over the PA system, which the children agreed was loud enough to wake them in an emergency. A firefighter demonstrated how to “stop, drop and roll” to put out the flames and the children repeated the number to call in an emergency – “9-1-1” they chanted, but call only in an emergency.
Then it was time to check out the various apparatus on display, but initially, the children lined up in droves to take a turn holding the fire hoses. Afterward, children checked out the fire engines and ambulance.
Some firefighters distributed little red rubber footballs, fire safety coloring books and, of course, red and black firefighter helmets, while others cooked up hot dogs and provided cool refreshments, including ice cream for the tots.
