37th Annual Fire Parade and Muster to light up Littleton

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

On June 17, dozens of re trucks will cruise with lights ashing down Main Street in Littleton.

e convoy, which might look at rst glance like a spectacular emergency response, will be part of the 37th Annual Fire Parade and Muster, an event hosted by Mile High Hook and Ladder Club.

e antique re apparatus club hosts the free, family-friendly event on Father’s Day weekend in partnership with South Metro Fire Rescue each year.

e event will give attendees a chance to appreciate antique and modern re trucks, learn about re service history and experience the tools and tricks of emergency response personnel up close.

“We not only get to parade down Littleton’s Main Street, but it draws a crowd of (2,200 – 2,500) people and we get to show o our trucks so they get to admire them,” said Pete Webb, former president club member for over 20 years.

e parade will begin at Bannock Street and Littleton Boulevard at 9 a.m.

After the procession, re vehicles will gather in the parking lot at Arapahoe Community College for the “muster” until 1 p.m. A muster is a gathering of re and rescue services that provides activities, education and entertainment to the community.

“Kids get to use real re hoses and they get to talk to remen,” Hook and Ladder member Mark Gorman said. “We cut some cars apart. e kids get to pick up the tools that the remen use, and they ask questions and their imagination gets to run

Some highlights of the muster this year will include opportunities to ride a re truck, shoot a re hose, try on bunker gear and learn safety tips from e South Metro Safety Foundation, the Children’s Hospital Colorado Burn Camps Program, the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, the National Weather Service ere will also be a live automobile extrication demonstration, during which re ghters from South Metro Fire Rescue will use a piece of machinery called “Jaws of Life” to pry apart a crushed car to remove a volunteer “accident victim,” showing just one example of an emergency that re ghters respond to. ere will also be a demonstration that shows the importance of sprinklers in extinguishing res.

“We also have a sprinkler trailer demonstration from the National Fire Sprinkler Association where they’re gonna have this trailer where they set a re to it and then sprinklers extinguish the re,” Webb said. “It shows the bene t of sprinklers, whether it’s in a commercial setting or a home setting.”

Attendees will get to watch the Children’s Hospital Colorado

Children’s One Flight Team land their neonatal/pediatric emergency helicopter.

Kids will also have the chance to do “maggot art” with the Arapahoe County Coroner, dipping live maggots into paint and letting them crawl around paper as they learn about entomology and forensic investigations.

South Metro Fire Rescue communications manager Eric Hurst said he appreciates the community connection that comes from the event each year.

“As a (South Metro Fire Rescue) employee who remembers going into the re muster when I was in elementary school, it’s just really cool for me to be able to be there and answer questions and inspire the next generation of our personnel to maybe want to apply one day,” he said.

Swedish Medical Center, the largest sponsor of this year’s event, will also be present at the event to talk about their level 1 trauma center, said Hook and Ladder member Paula Weins.

Hook and Ladder members recommend that families attending with kids bring a change of clothes for their children, as there are many opportunities for them to get soaked at the event.