October 21, 2005

Our Trip to the Fire Station

Caleb had a really exciting morning. We had a tour of Fort Worth Fire Station #8.

My friend Jessica is married to Mr. Tom the fireman. They know that Caleb loves fire trucks, so they invited us to have a tour of the fire station.

Tom had warned me that most children get scared when they get there because the size of the trucks can be overwhelming. This wasn’t the case with Caleb…he couldn’t get enough!

We started our tour with a trip through the fire house. We saw where the firemen sleep and eat and store all of their equipement. We were introduced to the seven other firemen that work the shift with Tom. These are very big, strong, and loud men. It is very much like a family.

Then came the highlight of the trip. We toured the fire trucks. Mr. Tom spent the entire time showing Caleb everything about the trucks.

Caleb’s friend Megan (Tom and Jessica’s daughter) was with us, but she didn’t care anything about the fire trucks. I think it’s a boy thing.

Caleb got to sit in the driver’s seat of the engine first. Then he sat in the driver’s seat of the huge ladder truck. Mr. Tom cranked it up, and we got to see the lights start flashing. Tom is normally the driver of the engine truck, but today he was driving the long ladder truck. Then Caleb climbed up the ladder on the side of the big truck and sat on top of the fire truck. He was able to hold the hose, and he got to play with the flashlights. They showed him their boots and coats. Caleb was in awe the entire time.

Then as we were about to leave the alarm went off. Wow! It was an automobile accident call so the engine took off in a flash. It was great! Great for us…probably not so great for the people who had the accident.

Thank you Fire Station #8 and Mr. Tom for a great morning with lots of great memories. Caleb has talked about it all day. He thinks they really are heroes!