Mandan Fire Department hosts Fire Prevention Open House

On Tuesday, October 13, Mandan Fire Department hosted a fire prevention open house as a part of fire prevention month. These open houses have been an annual tradition for over forty years and are very popular.

Matthew Hennesey, a fire captain at Mandan Fire Department and the main organizer for the open house, said, “Every year it’s probably our biggest event.” When the weather is nice, they expect two to three thousand people.

“At the end of September,” Hennesey explained, “we do school visits, and we do fire prevention presentations for kindergarteners through third graders, and then… the fire prevention open house is kind of like the finale for it. It’s just to raise awareness for fire prevention, fire safety… We have members from the community that do demonstrations like leaving an oven mitt on a frying pan, things like that. It kind of varies from year to year.”

One of the demonstrations this year was a burn cell. Arrow Cleaning lent the fire department a small, portable, two room structure. Prior to guests arriving, the fire department set a fire in one room. That room was thoroughly scorched, but the other room, protected by a closed door, was unaffected. Guests were able to look at the two rooms through windows and see the difference between them.

Hennesey said that the purpose of the demonstration is to show “the importance of closing your doors when you go to bed. ‘Close before you doze.’ That’s a big thing that we’ve been pushing.”

According to Hennesey, school visits and community events are effective in preparing people for emergency situations. “We had a fire… a couple of years ago over by Custer Elementary School… It was a small ‘room and contents’ fire. We extinguished the fire and… got the smoke out of there… Everybody got out, and we were standing out afterwards just kind of cleaning up… The mom of the family that lives there came up to the chief and I and said, ‘Hey, my son would like to talk to you before you guys leave.’ So he came over, and I bet this kid was probably eight… And he said, “I just wanna tell you what happened. I was sleeping, and I heard the smoke alarms go off, and I came out of my room, and I saw fire and smoke, so I went back in my room and closed the door and climbed out the window…’ I know it’s effective because the kids, they remember when we come back to school, like, ‘You remember what we talked about last year?’ And the kids remember, but just seeing that kid actually do it was… an eye opener. That’s exactly what we teach. If you see fire, get out, and if you have to go back in your room, close the door and find another way out. That’s exactly what he did.”

The event started with a parade of fire trucks and emergency vehicles. A variety of departments participated in the parade and the open house, including Mandan Rural Fire Department, the Refinery Fire Department, Bismarck Fire Department, Mandan Police Department, Metro Ambulance, and the S.W.A.T. team. Sanford Air accompanied the parade overhead in a helicopter. The parade went from the rural fire department to Old Red Trail, down 6th Ave. NW to Main Street, then back up 6th Ave. NE to Station 1, which is on 1st and Collins.

Once everyone arrived at Station 1, firefighters started taking small groups on firetruck rides. “The firetruck rides are always the most popular,” said Hennesey. “The line gets pretty long for those.”

Inside the station, volunteers had popcorn, cotton candy, and hot dogs for the guests. They also handed out plastic firefighter helmets to the kids who wanted them.

Guests had an opportunity to vote on a name for Mandan Fire Department’s brand-new engine. The options were Ginger, 380K, Ash (Ash Kicker), and Ember. 

One of the highlights of the evening was an auto extrication demonstration in which a group of firefighters dismantled a car. One of the firefighters narrated the process, explaining the tools and processes they use in order to rescue people from vehicles.

Hennesey said that his favorite part of the event is seeing how much fun everyone has. “The kids love it, the parents love brining them here. It’s kind of a tradition over here. It’s, you know, it’s the fire department open house. Everyone knows the fire department open house… Our event is awesome. It really is.”

The kids seemed to agree. “I want to ride in the fire truck!” said Michael Sweeney, one of the younger guests. “I like fire trucks.”

Gracie Froelich said her favorite part of the event was “the snacks and the fire truck ride… They put on the sirens, and it looks really cool inside.”

Froelich’s father, Alex Froelich, is a firefighter at Mandan Fire Department, and she said that she is very proud of him. “I get to see him at my school sometimes,” she explained.

Her fire safety advice to all the kids in the world is, “Don’t play with matches.”

That seems like pretty good advice.