Safety Open House

After U's run, we went over to the police and fire departments where they were having a safety open house. We were able to talk to some K9 police officers, see a couple of the dogs and learn all about the care and training of the dogs. I definitely don't want one of them running after me! Both departments had multiple types of vehicles there that we could get in and look at. We also saw some firemen do a vehicle extraction using the jaws of life and watched a couple of firemen repel from 70-80 feet in the air from the bucket of their ladder truck.

The fire department has a safety trailer where the kids can practice crawling low through a bedroom that has smoke in it and then climbing down an emergency ladder. Here Megan is climbing down.

Here Matthew is taking his turn.

Matthew in a fire truck.

View from the front.

Anna and Elsa were at police headquarters painting kids' faces. Here Anna is painting Matthew's face.

Elsa painting Megan's face.

Elsa painted a dreamcatcher on Sarah's face.

Megan chose a butterfly.

Matthew wanted a mask like Dash from the Incredibles.

Watching the vehicle extraction.

The extraction. It was really interesting to watch--they are very systematic about what they do, with one of the first actions being to open the hood and disconnect the battery. They then opened up the whole side of the car so they could get the victim out safely.

Us with the car.

One of the firemen going over the edge of the bucket. They flip upside down initially.

Once off the bucket, they sit upright and gradually lower themselves down with the rope.

And in case you're wondering, no an iPhone won't survive a 70-80 foot fall, even if it is in a heavy duty case. (One of the firemen had his in an unsecured pocket and it fell when he was upside down. Case flew off as did the back of the phone.)

They also had a car show. Everyone was able to vote for their favorite car. This one was Matthew's favorite.

Here Megan is with her favorite car.

Sarah really liked this car.