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Fire District 5 open house Saturday made for kids, families By Morgan Rothborne Updated: Oct 12, 2022 06:03 PM A A Jackson County Fire District 5 Chief Charles Hanley at Station 5. [Mail Tribune / file photo] Jackson County Fire District 5 will hold an open house Saturday — its first since pandemic shutdowns put a halt to public events in 2020. The event will be at Station 5, 5811 S. Pacific Highway, Phoenix, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 15, featuring veteran firefighters and new apprentices eager to show their skills and offer fire safety drills for kids and families. “We’re excited to have the community out for the first time in three years, to do something like this and have hot dogs for the kids,” said Battalion Chief Aaron Bustard. The open house will feature demonstrations of firefighter prowess, critical safety skills and quick access to everyday public services, such as blood pressure checks and address signs. The home escape practice in the fire safety trailer is designed for the unique risk children face in a house fire, Bustard explained. “Kids tend to hide,” he said. “We’re trained to look in closets and under beds, but it’s better if they know to get out of the house.” After a safety talk from one of the firefighters, fake smoke will be pumped in, a smoke alarm will go off and kids will practice escaping out the windows — all in the hope if they smell smoke and hear an alarm go off someday, they won’t hide; they’ll know what to do, Bustard explained. Kids also will get to practice “stop, drop and roll” and have the chance to play firefighter, themselves, with the department’s smallest hose and a little wooden house built to be blasted with water. Apprentice firefighters will work alongside longtime volunteers to show how they make forced entry into a burning home, like breaking down doors or cutting chains, how they vent roofs to release smoke during house fires and perform other potentially life- or home-saving efforts, all with the visual benefit of fake smoke. Fire District 5 was one of several fire departments in Oregon to start an apprentice program in February. The apprentice program established the support of a paycheck while new recruits learn, akin to the apprentice programs available in other trades, such as electricians, Bustard explained. The district has 16 new firefighters in the program, he said, after one was recently hired to work for a fire department in Klamath County, and two have already moved up the ranks to work as firefighters for Fire District 5. The apprentices are excited to show their skills to the public, he said. A Mercy Flights helicopter also will be at the event for tours, Bustard said. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected] or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.