The Brainerd Fire Department is hosting an open house to educate the public about fire safety

The Brainerd Fire Department hosted an open house Thursday evening where families could have fun and learn about fire safety, tour the station and meet the firefighters and other emergency responders.

At the event, the community received a first-hand look at several organizations, including the fire department, that are committed to providing protection and service.

“Our open house is a great time for the community to see what we do, what all these other entities that we have with public utilities, fire protection, with fire extinguishers and everything from CPR,” the explained Assistant Brainerd Fire Chief Firefighter Dave Cox. “It works really well to try to tell everyone, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of these agencies out there that we can help support you and help with public safety.'”

Last week was Fire Prevention Week and the theme of this year’s open day was educating the public about smoke alarms.

“The thing we’re really pushing forward this year is the smoke detectors, which need to be replaced every 10 years,” Cox said. “Change your batteries when you change your clocks. Things like these that we want to convey simply serve more to ensure people’s safety and make our work easier.”

An advantage for everyone involved during the event was the personal exchange. From the fire department’s perspective, giving the public an opportunity to meet first responders and chat is more effective than sending out brochures and PSAs.

“It works great for us to meet the community, have the public come and talk to us directly,” Cox said. “We don’t just put out a PSA or a press release. We can actually discuss things and talk to them. The children can see that the firefighters are real people and visit us, get to know us and actually get personal contact.”

And with all the fun interactions for the kids, including trying out the fire hoses, there was a lot that could inspire the next generation of first responders.

“We get the kids to feel what we do with the hoses and all the fire extinguishers and all that stuff, and I remember going to the fire department open house as a kid and thinking how cool that was and “How pretty it was,” Cox added. “And to bring these kids here to maybe start the seed of ‘Hey, I can be a firefighter too.’ We try to get people involved, teach them some of the things we do and just see that, hey, this is something that anyone can do.”