Sarasota's Clayton Lambert, 6, tries on a fire helmet with the help of his mother Megan Lambert.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Sarasota
Neighbors
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Sarasota County Deputy Fire Chief Darin Wallentine called the open house event held on Feb. 15 a "very special" one, due to Station 8 on Apex Road being the department's base of special operations.
The public could experience sights from tools for extrication from vehicles, to a demonstration of the department's rappelling equipment.
Each month, the department's free open house events offer families the chance to meet firefighters, explore fire equipment, and receive free car seat safety inspections, bike helmet fittings and fire and swimming safety information.
They also feature community partners like SunCoast Blood Centers, with which the department just established a prehospital whole blood transfusion program last month.
"We take great pride in what we do here at Sarasota County Fire," Wallentine said. "The professional nature of our firefighters, their willingness to continue to develop and train and learn, is very important to us, as a learning and a growing organization."
He said something that was "very encouraging" was seeing kids climb into fire trucks and receive tours from firefighters.
"Maybe in the future, one of these kids will decide to become a firefighter, and they will tie it back to the visit that they had here today as the emphasis on why they chose to become a public servant and to serve the community as a firefighter," he said.
Sarasota's Declan Morrison, 2, tries the fire hose with the help of Firefighter/EMT Marshall Germond.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Fire Inspector Susan Scott pets Brisa, who comes from the Humane Society of Sarasota County.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Bradenton's Brook Jackson, 5, the daughter of Lt. Dennis Jackson of Sarasota County, tries the fire hose with his help.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Lt. Jacob Siegel offers Sarasota's Ian Sweeney, 6, a bike helmet fitting.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Nate Brown, 1, from Venice, learns about the extrication tools from Firefighter/EMT Justin Foster.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Sarasota's Kelly-Anne Shedd-Hartman visits with her daughter Orianna Hartman, 3, who tries on a fire helmet provided by Public Education Coordinator Michael Rodrigue. “She really wants to be a firefighter, so this is really exciting for us,” said her mom Kelly-Anne Shedd-Hartman.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Sarasota's Miaha Pasickgerdman, 11, gives a hug to Bear, who comes from the Humane Society of Sarasota County.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Public Education Coordinator Michael Rodrigue staffed a table at the event.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Sarasota's Clayton Lambert, 6, tries on a fire helmet with the help of his mother Megan Lambert.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Sarasota's Claire Lambert, 1, tries on a fire helmet with the help of her father Matt Lambert.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Sarasota's Matt Pirogov, 13, practices CPR at the Sarasota Memorial Hospital table.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Sarasota's Casey Perez, 2, his brother Cameron Perez, 4 and their neighbor Jaxson Bender, 4, attended the open house together.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Free car seat inspections are offered at the fire department open houses.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Visitors had the chance to explore fire engines.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Lakewood Ranch's Logan Anderson, 6, takes a seat in a fire truck.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Malcolm Drummond, 7, Charlotte Drummond, 6, Elizabeth Drummond, 2 and their father Scott Drummond, watch the rapelling demonstration. They drove from Arcadia to see the open house.
Photo by Ian Swaby
Firefighter/EMT Josh Gilliam performs a rapelling demonstration.
Ian Swaby is the Sarasota neighbors writer for the Observer. Ian is a Florida State University graduate of Editing, Writing, and Media and previously worked in the publishing industry in the Cayman Islands.
