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Logan County first responders kick off National Fire Prevention Week with a Lights & Sirens Parade through Lincoln

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[October 09, 2014]  LINCOLN - Sunday morning, fire trucks and rescue vehicles from all over Logan County gathered at the Knights of Columbus Hall parking lot in Lincoln for the first ever Light and Siren parade through the city of Lincoln.

The event was being held in conjunction with National Fire Prevention and Safety Week, and was intended to draw attention to fire safety. This year the national theme revolves around the use of smoke alarms as a viable means of saving lives in fire situations.

At 11:30 a.m. the parade rolled out of the KC parking lot onto Broadway Street. With lights flashing and sirens blaring, the parade route took the vehicles down Broadway, through the downtown area of Lincoln. Then the vehicles were driven on to Union Street, north to Woodlawn Road and west to the Big R (the old Wal-Mart parking lot).

When they arrived at Big R, all the vehicles lined up for the general public to stop in and see. Almost immediately there was a crowd of people on hand, checking out the trucks, visiting with the firefighters, and of course there were fun activities and gifts for all the youngsters.

Water hoses were set up, and kids had a chance to spray water across the parking lot with the assistance of young men from the Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District's Explorer group.


The various fire departments set up tables and handed out gifts such as fire hats, frisbees, footballs, and some even had candy on hand for the kids.

Even though the parade started with a sprinkling from Mother Nature, and the temperature hadn’t hit the 60-degree mark, it seemed that everyone was enjoying the opportunity to get up close and personal with the fire trucks.

In addition to the trucks, there were several antique and vintage police cars in the parade. Those cars also came out to the Big R parking lot, and guests enjoyed checking them out.

The Sunday event marked the start of a month of activities for the city of Lincoln Fire Department. This morning (Monday) the department will host a breakfast at the city firehouse for a selected elementary school in town. The breakfast will include pancakes and sausage for everyone. After breakfast firefighters will discuss fire safety and prevention with the students and offer a tour of the station.

On Thursday, the first of four rides to school in a fire truck will take place with Isabella Curry being the kindergarten student who won this year’s poster contest in that grade level.

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According to Bret Tripplett of the city of Lincoln Fire Department, this year there were 354 students who entered posters in the annual contest. One winner was chosen from each of four grade levels; kindergarten through third grade. Tripplett said this was a large turnout of posters for this year, and noted that last year, the department received 285 entries.

Among the winners is Isabella Curry, the daughter of Ryan Curry of Lincoln in the kindergarten category. Isabella’s poster won out over a total of 32 entries.

The second-grade winner is Evan Crawford, son of Steve and Paula Crawford of Lincoln. Evan won out over 145 poster entries in the 2nd grade category.

The 3rd grade winner is Elaine Hyde, daughter of Amy and Jeff Hyde. Elaine went up against 52 entries to win the distinction of having the best poster in that grade category.

A winner has been selected for the first-grade category, but as of last Friday, the parents had not yet confirmed their child's name could be publicized.

LDN will publish the posters on the week's the kids take their ride to school.

In addition to the breakfast, poster contest, and rides to school; firefighters will also be visiting Lincoln elementary schools throughout the month delivering talks on fire safety and prevention.

[Nila Smith]

 

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