If you’re interested in seeing fire fighters in action – or becoming one yourself – Aweres Volunteer Fire & Rescue hopes to see you at its open house this Saturday.
Running from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., community members can watch fire fighters perform a vehicle extraction and extinguish a live fire during the event – all while enjoying a free barbecue from M&M Food Market.
“We'll feed you, we'll show you some cool stuff, and send you home wondering if you should put a fire helmet on one day,” said acting captain Matt Van Horne.
“They'll have some cool imaging cameras where they can see some of the temperatures as we go in and simulate fighting a fire.”
Located at 30 Highway 556 in Aweres Township, Van Horne said a number of kid friendly activities will take place throughout the day, including helmet decorating, tours of the fire hall and fire trucks, and more.
“We'll have lots of members there to chat and communicate with whoever shows up,” he said. “The department's grown a lot in the last few years, so we want to show our community what we can do.”
The volunteer squad is also interested in connecting with people who might like to join.
Unlike many volunteer fire departments, prospective fire fighters don’t need to live within the township boundaries – as long as they are within a reasonable distance.
“We do have members from the east end of the city in Sault Ste. Marie that are active,” Van Horne said.
“If firefighting is in your future, and you want to get some training done or just get your feet wet, it's a really good opportunity to do that in a capacity where you don't jump in with both feet to find out you don't like it later.”