Four-year-old Sadie Wehling loves to pretend to put out fires and rescue relatives. When her family drives by a fire station, she asks “What’s in there?”
That curiosity led her and many other hopeful firefighters to Vancouver Fire Department’s Fire Station 2 on Saturday, blipping around a crowd of more than 50 who attended its grand opening. Fire Station 2 is one of a pair of new, upgraded facilities that opened near downtown this weekend with smarter alarm systems, traffic control and a combined $15 million price tag.
Even with those bells and whistles, the youngest generation was all about the classics. Kids wore red, plastic fire helmets and suited up in firefighter costumes. They explored the ins and outs of fire engines and met the real men and women who use them. They helped Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle cut the station’s ribbon, after she thanked the community for its support and the firefighters for their work.