On Friday, Oct. 8 Moorestown Fire Prevention hosted their annual Fire Prevention Night at the Lenola Volunteer Fire Company Station 313 and showed community members a vehicle extrication demonstration, how to extinguish fires and volunteer firemen advanced hose lines and raced each other.
“Typically, every year, we just try to do a big open house and have some things for kids to do that are fun at the same time,” said Matthew Orsini, fire official for Moorestown Fire Prevention. “We try to get them interested in maybe becoming a volunteer, learning a few things, and taking home some stuff that they can use as a reminder for fire safety at home.”
According to the official website for Moorestown fire prevention, their mission statement includes the following: ensure public and firefighter safety through consistent and professional enforcement of the Uniform Fire Code of New Jersey; educate and train the public on fire safety systems and preventative measures necessary to ensure the protection of life and property; and provide accurate and timely information to the officers and members of the Fire Companies and Emergency Units as to the hazards located within Moorestown Fire District.
For Orsini, it’s important for community members to not only have a good time at Fire Prevention Night, but also be educated on fire prevention.
“I want them to have a good time and I want them to remember some of the things that we have,” he noted. “We have a lot of things that we do with fire extinguisher training because a lot of houses have fire extinguishers and maybe they got to practice that. They can take those experiences home and maybe teach family members who weren’t able to make it. Overall, just go home with knowledge that they didn’t have coming into the event originally.”
Parents and kids were able to look at all the fire trucks, snack on ice cream and cotton candy and take photos with Moorestown Fire Prevention’s mascot, Sparky.
“In the beginning, I’m always nervous because I’m always worried about turnout. But to see that we had all of those people, I thought it went really well,” said Orsini. “The way I judge that is, you see the lines built up for handouts, cotton candy, ice cream and things like that and then the people who stayed throughout the night. So, when you still have a nice crowd at the end of the night, that’s always nice to see and that made me feel like it was a success and everyone was enjoying themselves.”
