A celebration of safety
Ben Godar
Emergency vehicles, rescue demonstrations, Walt Disney characters,
food and music -- it can only be Burbank’s annual Fire Service Day
and National Police Week celebration.
This year’s event will fill the streets surrounding the Police and
Fire Headquarters from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 10. At least a dozen
new and vintage fire vehicles, the police helicopter and many other
rescue vehicles will be on display along Orange Grove Avenue and
Third Street. Several safety-related agencies will host informational
booths at the event, and Walt Disney characters will be available for
free pictures with children.
Organizers are most excited about the planned demonstrations,
which will include paramedics, a hazardous-materials crew and the
urban search and rescue team, Fire Capt. Ron Bell said.
A disc jockey will play music, and Bell said food and drinks will
be available for a nominal cost. He said the idea is for people to
have a good time, but also to learn about public safety and the work
done by firefighters.
“We want to get rid of some of these ideas about what we do,” he
said. “We’re not just sitting around playing checkers on the cracker
barrel anymore.”
Fire Service Day has been an annual event for more than 20
years. It always served as the Fire Department’s open house, but Bell
said since the agency joined police in a joint headquarters that
opened in 1998, the event has grown even larger. This year, Bell said
he expects about 4,000 people to attend.
In addition to participating in demonstrations including search
and rescue and rappelling, Burbank Police plan to display their
equestrian, K-9 and airport crash units. The joint event is
something officers look forward to every year, spokesman Sgt. Bruce
Speirs said. Tours of both departments will be offered, and their
shared museum will be open.
“It gives us a chance to slow down and be able to totally devote
our time to interacting with the citizens and talking with kids,”
Speirs said.
Bell said the celebration is also a way to show off the equipment
the city has provided.
“We hope to let people know we take pride in our facilities and
our apparatus -- you can’t beat either one,” he said.