Touch-a-Truck offers fun experiences for kids, families
by Chris Studor
Big, bad trucks, every little kid’s truck-loving dream, was brought to life on Oct. 1 at the Hinckley Fire Department’s annual Touch-A-Truck event.
Featured vehicles included a monster truck, FBI evidence collection truck, trash trucks, several different fire trucks, ambulances and police vehicles. In addition, visitors enjoyed a number of other fun activities and refreshments.
Fire Chief Jestin Grossenbaugh said the event typically averages 600-800 attendees. In addition to the trucks, new this year was the blow-up safety house used to teach fire education safety. The funds to purchase of the blow-up safety house were shared between the Hinckley Fire Fighters Association and the township. The inflatable replaces a safety trailer that was shared between Hinckley, Granger and Sharon townships that had seen better days.
“Our fire department did a fantastic job,” said trustee Melissa Augustine who is liaison to the fire department. “The Hinckley Fire Department, Police Department and Hinckley Service Department worked collectively to create the event. You could just feel the energy in the air and see the excitement as children had the chance to try on fire fighting gear or break down a door (adjusted for their skill level).”
Augustine said a woodworking station, sponsored by Home Depot, was added this year as part of which children could work on four different projects.
“The chance to use a real fire hose was also a favorite activity for the day,” Augustine added.
The work of Hinckley fire fighters is challenging and often dangerous. However, on Touch-a- Truck Day, Hinckley Fire Chief Grossenbaugh was all smiles as he watched children learn fire education and experience fire fighting skills used by township fire fighters. ∞
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Nov. 23
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Photo cutlines (photos forwarded through photos sent to me through email)
Fire Chief Jestin Grossenbaugh welcomed more than 600 visitors to the department’s annual Touch-A-Truck event.
A blow up safety house is the newest addition to the annual Touch-A-Truck Day where visitors get to hop aboard huge monster trucks, fire vehicles and now the blow-up safety house. The safety house is being used to teach students fire education skills and replaces a worn out trailer.
At Touch-A-Truck day, visitors had the opportunity to do several wood working projects and do their best at breaking into a model door (adjusted for young people) which Hinckley Fire Fighters used during their own training.
Photo (above/main): Fire Chief Jestin Grossenbaugh, pictured with fire mascot Sparky, welcomed more than 400 visitors to the department’s annual Touch-A-Truck event Oct. 1.