Fire station opens up for public info day

An open day at the Gisborne fire station on Saturday will have demonstrations and information giveaways. St John ambulance officers will be on hand, to demonstrate how emergency responders work together. File picture by Ben Cowper

Fire and Emergency NZ will hold an open day for the public at the Gisborne city fire station tomorrow from 10am-1pm and there will be a range of demonstrations.

Hato Hone St John will also be present, with an ambulance on site for information. St John officers  will be involved in demonstrations to show how emergency responders work together in the field.

FENZ crews will stage a demonstration of a kitchen fire, and a motor vehicle cut-out.

There will also  be an  “escape my house” virtual reality goggle simulation and the Bronto fire appliance will show its capabilities.

“As well, we will have home fire safety information to give away and a sign-up sheet for FENZ staff to visit people’s homes to check their smoke alarms and escape routes,” said a FENZ spokesman.

FENZ is running a recruitment drive for career firefighting and volunteer firefighting in the city and rural brigades.

“We’ll have a sausage sizzle fundraiser going, run by the Gisborne Volunteer Support Unit, to purchase a training dummy, and there will be rural and wildfire community information available.”

The FENZ spokesman said everyone will be welcome.

“It’s a chance for the public to see our station and what we do here.”

Entry is at the rear of the station at the river end of Bright Street.

The station has created a Facebook event with information on the day.