Nearly 2,000 people visited the Wilmette Fire Department’s open house on Saturday, Fire Chief Ben Wozney said, something he wasn’t sure would happen when he woke up, looked out the window, and saw the damp, dismal conditions.
“I told my wife that we were thinking about canceling because of the weather, and she said, ‘Keep going – the soccer games will be canceled and I think you’ll give people a place to go,'” Wozney joked.
“We were packed, and everything we were going to do outside, we were able to do inside,” he said of the event, which coincided with the end of National Fire Prevention Week and took place at Station 26, 1304 Lake Ave. in downtown Wilmette.
Visitors, including dozens of families with children, were able to watch firefighters show off their rappelling skills and see a presentation from the department’s dive team, before viewing department firefighting and life-saving equipment, Wozney said.
He said about 60 people learned how to do hands-free CPR with the help of volunteers from St. Francis Hospital in Evanston.
Many of Saturday’s events were geared toward children, Deputy Fire Chief Robert Brill said.
Department paramedics performed “check-ups” on teddy bears or other dolls that youngsters brought to the open house, an exercise designed to help children feel more comfortable with being a patient themselves, according to the fire department.
Children also had the chance to wield an actual fire hose, say hello to Sparky the Fire Dog, and learn how to escape from a burning house, open house organizers said.
Wozney said one of this year’s new attractions were fidget spinners, customized for the fire department and given out by department employees and members of the Wilmette Optimist Club to boys and girls who helped their parents complete an online survey on home safety. He said the department handed out 600 of the popular toys, “and the number is still climbing.”
He said people can still take the survey by going to the fire department tab at www.wilmette.com, and clicking first on “Public Education and Services” on the drop down menu, then “Fire Department open house” and “home life safety survey.”
Fire department personnel also handed out educational material on topics such as how to plan exit routes from a home, Wozney said.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy
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