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Excitement fills the streets during Fire Prevention Week

Area elementary students enjoy annual fire truck rides

Traer Fire Department city pumper No. 311 driven by Chief Tyler Sell ferries a truckload of ecstatic North Tama second graders from the downtown fire station back to school on Thursday, October 13 as part of Fire Prevention Week activities. Second grade teacher Makenzie Pahnisch (top right) and Traer Fire member Tristan Timmons (bottom right) are also pictured. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
Second graders from North Tama Elementary teacher Makenzie Pahnisch’s class grin and wave with excitement moments before taking off on a fire truck ride with Traer Fire as part of Fire Prevention Week on Thursday, October 13 in downtown Traer. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
Kindergarteners from Dysart-Geneseo Elementary School enjoy a ride perched atop a Dysart Fire Department truck on Thursday, October 13, as part of Fire Prevention Week. PHOTO COURTESY OF UNION COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Second graders from North Tama Elementary School receive a ride atop Traer Fire’s city pumper No. 311 on Thursday, October 13 in downtown Traer as part of Fire Prevention Week. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
Traer Fire Chief Tyler Sell (left) assists North Tama Elementary second-grader Asher Monat as he climbs up onto a fire truck for a ride last Thursday, Oct. 13 in downtown Traer as part of Fire Prevention Week. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
Second grade students from North Tama Elementary teacher Makenzie Pahnisch’s class listen to Traer Fire Chief Tyler Sell describe the different parts of a fire truck during a tour of the department’s downtown station as part of Fire Prevention Week on Thursday, October 13. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER
Traer Fire Chief Tyler Sell and department member Marv Boldt serve cookies, milk, and juice to North Tama second graders visiting the station on Thursday, Oct. 13 during Fire Prevention Week. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

A much-anticipated school event took place last week for many of the area’s youngest learners – Fire Prevention Week – with classes from both North Tama and Union school districts receiving rides on local fire trucks and tours of local fire stations on Thursday.

In Traer, both the second and third-grade classes bundled up on Thursday, October 13 to make the trek from North Tama Elementary down to the Second Street fire station where Traer Fire Chief Tyler Sell and department members Marv Boldt and Tristan Timmons were waiting to provide a tour of the station and answer questions.

After exploring the station including each of the trucks stored there, students enjoyed a snack of cookies, milk, and juice in the conference room where Sell answered all sorts of questions from the curious learners.

Many in North Tama second grade teacher Makenzie Pahnisch’s class wanted to know if the firefighters ever have to sleep in the station – not usually, Sell said, but they did once during a particularly nasty winter storm.

Students also learned that only a fire department’s chief and assistant chief – Sell and Traer Council Member Matt Rausch, respectively – wear white hats to calls, while other department members don yellow hats.

As Pahnisch’s class visit wound to a close, Sell told the youngsters their very own local fire department averages about a three-minute response time from the moment station members are alerted of the call by 911 to a truck rolling out the door.

“That’s pretty good for a small town,” Sell said, impressing many of the adults in the room.

While the students were certainly enjoying their cookies and listening as best they could, most could hardly wait for “the next thing” as one student put it – a ride back to school on top of a fire truck!

It probably took just as long for Sell, Boldt, and Timmons to load the roughly 20 students onto the top of city pumper No. 331 as it did to then make their way back to the school – sirens sounding, lights blaring, and kids busting with excitement as they road – but it was all accomplished successfully for another year running in the name of safety and dedication to the community they serve.