Rain Doesn't Dampen Fire Dept. Open House

Fire Marshal John Manuele said Thursday evening that intermittent rain reduced the size of the regular crowd at the annual Merrimack Fire Department Open House on Thursday evening. But the turnout was better than he expected, he said.

Unfortunately, because of the committments from other organizations to participate in the event, like the visit from the state fire marshal's fire dog, it's not really possible to postpone the event in the event of rain.

But the open house provided some shelter in the fire station bays for people wanting to get out of the drizzle, and it didn't rain the whole evening, which allowed visitors to check out some of the demonstrations, like the one of how Fire and Rescue use their equipment to pulled an entrapped person from a motor vehicle.

Demonstrations by Keith Hines of how the department uses a thermal imaging camera to locate people trapped in a burning building had some children giddy with excitement and others worried about if it would be safe to be in a room filling with smoke (they've been taught well!)

And as always the opportunity to climb aboard a fire truck was popular and the live burn demo had kids shreiking with excitement before it got so hot that they were backing away from the heat.

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Next week, Oct. 7-12, has been named as this year's National Fire Prevention Week. This is the 89th year that fire departments from around the country have observed this event making it the longest running public health and safety observance on record. The theme this year is “Have two ways out.” This year’s campaign focuses on having two ways out of your house in an emergency and practicing this with your family. Planning ahead and practicing before an emergency can make an actual emergency less frightening and confusing for everyone.