TFD video shows what it’s like to go on an actual fire call
By Per Peterson
“This is real!” a Tracy Area Elementary School first-grader exclaimed to a classmate last Thursday during a visit by the Tracy Fire Department as part of Fire Prevention Week.
It’s one thing to hear about what it’s like to fight a fire, but being able to follow a firefighter into a smoke-filled house is a whole different story and that first-grader and all his classmates did just that.
Thanks to efforts of the Tracy Fire Department and the talents of Adam Hansen, kids and adults alike were figuratively put in the middle of a fire last week through a locally-produced video that shows what it’s like to rush into a burning building.
The TFD debuted the video last Thursday during Fire Prevention Week. It was shown to students at St. Mary’s School and Tracy Area Elementary School on Thursday morning, and was then on display at that night’s annual Tracy Fire Department Auxiliary chili supper at the fire hall.
Assistant Fire Chief Tony Rolling said a community education committee was formed that focused on Fire Prevention Week, and the members came up with the idea of the video.
“Every year we brainstorm what we’re going to do for Fire Prevention (Week),” said Rolling, who served as the department’s spokesman last week at various sites they visited for Fire Prevention Week. “We’ve had the burn trailer in the past and that went well for a few years, but the kids see it year after year, and last year we did the kitchen one with the fire, but it’s a lot of work to get that here.”
The video was shot during a drill the department had a few weeks ago at an abandoned house in Broadacres — a house that will be burned down in the future.
“It worked well to have the drill and take some time to do some recording,” Rolling said.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.