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 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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