By Bruce Karnick

October is fire prevention month to help raise awareness of potential fire hazards in your home. It is also a great reminder to us for checking our carbon monoxide and smoke alarms for functionality and to change the batteries. Even with a national proclamation of October being fire prevention month, our local community fire departments hold events throughout the year to help educate and protect residents. Miesville Fire is no different. They held a community event on September 12th at their station in Miesville. They had over 20 people attend an event geared at teaching kids who to look for if there is a fire. Chris Morehead spent some time with The Journal discussing the event.

The event was organized by Tim Niebur and Darold Fox. They wanted to “get children more comfortable and acclimated to seeing a firefighter in case of emergency situations.” Morehead explained. Three firefighters agreed to dress in their full firefighting equipment, all 40 plus pounds, to greet the group of residents. Brandon Napper, Brandon’s daughter Julia Napper and Morehead came out of the hall ready give the kids a little show. “We were dressed up in our turn out gear, helmets, SCVA, you know the full tanks and everything else. When the children came around, we all kind of walked out in our gear, made a bunch of noises and sounded like Darth Vader.” Morehead continued. “[We] got down and waved to the kids and said hi. We slowly took our gear off so they could see we are human underneath all that stuff.” After, the kids were able to hold equipment, try on the eight-pound helmets if they wanted, explore the fire department, and climb in the trucks. The event had kids as old as 12 and it lasted a little over an hour.

The Miesville Fire department currently has 22 active firefighters and EMT’s, but they are always looking for more. If you are interested in becoming part of the MFD, reach out through the Miesville Fire Department Facebook page or stop by the City of Miesville.

The Miesville Fire Department located down the third base line of Jack Ruhr Field in Miesville. MFD currently has 22 fire and rescue personnel and is always looking for more. Photo courtesy of the MFD Facebook Page