[November 05, 2015]      

On Wednesday morning, the final fire truck ride to school took place with second-grader Calvin Aukamp being the recipient. Calvin, along with his older brother Soren, was driven to Carroll Catholic School by Lincoln Firefighters Ben Roland and Jason Van Winkle. Calvin is the son of Bret and Sally Aukamp of Middletown.

Calvin won the trip to school in the fire truck by being the first place winner in the second grade category of a Fire Prevention and Safety Contest sponsored by the Lincoln Fire Department. Calvin was among 87 second-graders to submit a poster.

Calvin's poster depicts a number one safety rule for preventing fire, "Don't play with lighters and matches." His poster shows firefighters working to put out a house fire. The two people in the drawing have very sad faces. Those faces depict a real truth. While at the moment playing with matches, watching them spark and glow may be fun, when it starts a fire that destroys a child's home it is no fun thing.

This trip to school was unusual in a couple of ways. Because for these rides, the Lincoln fire truck may not leave the city limits of Lincoln, Calvin and his family had to meet the truck in the parking lot of Logan Lanes on Fifth Street. For the boys, their parents, and their grandmother, that did not take away from the excitement of the event.

The next extenuating circumstance for this ride was the fog. It is common practice for the firefighters to pick the riders up 15 to 20 minutes before school time. They then take a longer route to school, allowing the rider the opportunity to spend an extended period in the truck.

On Wednesday, the fog was as thick as pea soup. As an example, when the truck pulled into the parking lot, the shot grabbed by LDN shows that visibility was so low, one could not see the Fifth Street Road-Lincoln Parkway intersection just a few feet beyond the Logan Lanes driveway.

Instead of making the extra drive around town in the thick fog, Firefighters Roland and Van Winkle spent several minutes with the two boys, allowing them to climb up into the back of the truck and explore and ask questions.

Then it was off to school! When the boys arrived at Carroll Catholic there was plenty of attention for them and the big red truck as they stopped to pose for a couple more pictures, then hurried off into the school building.

By Nila Smith