Junior Firefighters to Support Relay for Life

This Saturday children in Stow will get the chance to learn how firefighters do what they do — all while benefitting cancer research.

Stow Fire Station No. 3 will host the inaugural Stow Junior Firefighter Training Academy from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For a donation of $7, children will get the chance to train with some of Stow's finest. All proceeds will benefit Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society research fundraiser.

Kathy Christ, youth services director for Stow Police, said the training fundraiser was the brainchild of Stow Fire Capt. Mike Griffin.

Griffin said the safety departments simply wanted to get the public involved in the fundraising efforts of the Stow Safety Forces relay team.

"Our career predisposes us to certain forms of cancer at a rate much higher than the general public," Griffin said.

A 2006 study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati showed that firefighters are more likely to contract four types of cancer, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and prostate cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Those stats are a primary driver in the departments' annual participation.

This year, Stow parents and children can help the Stow Safety Forces team in exchange for lunch Saturday and a host of activities at the fire station.

The main activity during junior firefighter training will be an obstacle course that takes children through various events on a smaller scale that a firefighter might encounter on the job. The obstacle course will be spread out over Stow Safety Town next to the station and will include crawling through a tunnel, dragging a fire house and spraying water from the hose.

Children also will get the chance to explore a Stow fire truck and the police department's DARE car. And kids will get to try on child-sized firefighter gear. Sparky the fire dog and McGruff the crime dog also will visit. Lunch will be held inside the fire station.

Griffin said Handel's Ice Cream just down the road from the station has agreed to host a fundraiser Saturday that's tied to the junior firefighter academy.

"They will donate 20 percent of each order with a Relay coupon to the American Cancer Society from 11am-10pm," he said. "We will have those coupons at our event."

Participants can pre-register at the Stow Safety Center next to Stow City Hall. The registration flier also is attached to this article and can be downloaded as a .pdf file.