Clowns might be scaring kids across the country, but the Mansfield Fire Department is calling their bluff.
Since 2003, Mansfield firefighters have dressed up as clowns to produce fire safety shows for the city’s elementary schools, and they aren’t going to let a new creepy clown trend stop them. But the firefighters don’t want to scare anyone.
“They’re not wearing full makeup,” said fire chief Barry Bondurant. “They toned it down. We even offered to do the show without makeup. I said, ‘The show must go on.’” Creepy clowns frightening, threatening and attempting to lure children into the woods have been reported from South Carolina to California since August, with more than a dozen arrests. A 14-year-old Mansfield student was taken into custody last week for threatening clown posts on an Instagram account.