Osceola County Fire Rescue & EMS, the Kissimmee Fire Department, and St. Cloud Fire Rescue joined forces on Saturday, October 16 to bring the community the inaugural Fire Safety Fest, a fun-packed and free to attend event for the whole family.
“Osceola Fire Rescue & EMS was honored to bring this informative fire and life safety event to Osceola Heritage Park, along with the Kissimmee Fire Department and St. Cloud Fire Rescue,” said County Fire Chief Larry Collier. “It was great to showcase our department’s training and capabilities and to share messages of safety in unison with other departments across the county.”
During Fire Safety Fest, visitors had the opportunity to learn life-saving information about fire safety and see first-hand how local firefighters and emergency medical service providers work to protect the community. In addition, people got an up-close look at fire trucks, rescue vehicles, medical helicopters, and much more.
“We are excited to participate in the first Fire Safety Fest! It provides us the opportunity to engage with our community and provide critical safety demonstrations, and the chance to interact with our firefighters. In addition, we look forward to the public seeing our new 100’ aerial Tower 11 in the ‘touch a truck’ event! This is a fun and educational family event, and we had a great turn-out,” said Kissimmee Fire Chief Jim Walls.
Hosting the first Fire Safety Fest came from a need to build awareness and provide safety information to residents countywide. Fire agencies within Osceola County typically provide public education programming independently, however after the absence of in-person teaching opportunities over the past year due to COVID-19, and in observance of Fire Prevention Month, a large-scale event like Fire Safety Fest has provided valuable education to our communities and strengthened the bonds between first responders and the public they serve.
“St. Cloud Fire Rescue is proud to have participated in Fire Safety Fest,” said St. Cloud Fire Chief Jason Miller. “During Fire Safety Month and all year long, it’s so important that we work together to help educate our citizens about fire safety. Fire Safety Fest gives us a great opportunity to present life-saving information in a fun, interactive way. We know that children and adults alike enjoyed getting an up-close look at all the equipment we use and participating in fire safety demonstrations.”
