The future of most Volunteer fire companies is our kids! Like many kids are first exposed to the fire service either through school visits or stopping by the local fire company. This weekend the Christiana Fire Company stepped it up a notch and sponsored a chance for kids to experience a day titled, “Step into the Boots of a Firefighter."

This year kid’s camp hit an all-time record of 186 kids participating; these kids came from various parts of the greater Western Chester County and Eastern Lancaster County regions. Either way the participants, the kids were grouped by age and provided with a color coded shirt for ease of accountability for the groups. Each group had a least 5 or more kids with a chaperone to get them from station to station.

Here is where the best part comes, local companies came together to provide the kids an opportunity to experience about as much of the fire service as one could possibly imagine. Anywhere from opening a roof to let the smoke out, this was courtesy of the Union Fire Company. Then to cutting a car up in a mock vehicle accident by the Gap Fire Company, to controlling a spill by the Cochranville Fire Company. Then as they moved through the lower areas West Bradford taught them how to use an extinguisher along with Wagontown doing our usual Wildland fire program.

Then they were shown what handlines do and how we store them on the apparatus by the Keystone Valley Fire Department. Then Christiana Fire and Ambulance Companies provided the life safety info on CPR, Smoke alarms, Get low under smoke and a vast variety of safety messages.

To conclude the day, Chief Sonny Reimold presented the groups their certificates and the door prizes were awarded to the kids. Each child was given an opportunity to put a ticket in for whatever they wanted to win.

Wagontown would like to thank Christiana Fire Company for allowing us to be part of this history making program and look forward to next year.