By Chris Hagan
Review Staff Writer
To commemorate fire prevention week in Orion, the fire department hosted two events which are among their largest of the year.
One was the annual apparatus display and the other a fire station open house.
The apparatus display has bounced around a few locations ranging from Canterbury, to the Orion Township Hall, Home Depot and now Hollywood Market’s parking lot on Lapeer Road.
It was in Hollywood’s parking where neighboring departments came in and displayed their firefighting trucks and tools.
Hollywood Market provided food and refreshments for the attendees which exceeded 500 people. Departments from Addison, Auburn Hills, Oxford, City of Rochester, and Rochester Hills all battled M-24 traffic to make it to the display.
Firefighter Anthony Geraci’s father set up an area which had firefighting memorabilia date back to the late 1800’s.
The highlight of the night centered around the sneak peak preview of Orion Township’s newest, state-of-the-art ladder truck.
Made by German-based company Rosenbauer, it has a 100-foot extendable ladder and all LED lighting. The new ‘Ladder 1? has many contemporary safety features that the current one doesn’t such as sensors that stop the ladder when it’s too close to the cab.
It also has a remote control to operate the ladder and fire nozzle, and an integrated communication system inside the cab. It allows six firefighters to talk with each other without having to compete over the sound of the engine.
The fire department also passed out safety information and an important medical card called the ‘File of Life.? Inside a magnetic pouch is a card with a person’s vital medical data written on it which may include allergies, medications, and other information. That card can be important when first responders arrive on scene and have treat a patient.
Fire Station 4 on Baldwin Road was opened to the public on Saturday. Citizens and passers-by were invited in walk around the fire station and interact with the area’s firefighters. The department’s current 1974 ladder truck extended its long ladder over top of Baldwin with a Lake Orion flagged draped from the bucket
Fire prevention week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire on October 8-9, 1871. It killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless and destroyed nearly 18,000 structures.
Since 1922 fire prevention week has been observed through the Sunday and Saturday period near October 9.
According the National Fire Protection Agency, Fire Prevention Week is the longest running public health and safety observance on record.