On Friday, October 8, 2021 the Shaker Road Fire Department held their annual fire prevention open house. This year was bigger than any other year on record.

At 6 PM the Shaker Road Fire Department doors open to the public for their annual open house with guest from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Albany International Airport Fire Department, Colonie Emergency Medical Services, Life net Helicopter, New York States Office of Fire Prevention and Controls K-9 teams, New York State Police. Colonie Police Department, and the Albany County Sheriffs Department Fire Coordinators. As people started to arrive the parking lots rapidly filled and neighborhoods nearby began to fill with vehicles as families made their way down to the fire house. Members of the fire department had numerous things for the family to do including a smoke maze, fire extinguisher training, food, fire safety activities for the children inside the building, and a live fire demonstration of a pod burn to demonstrate how quickly today’s materials in-house holds burn.

As children made their way around the event with their families climbing in and out of the fire trucks firefighters going over the different tools and equipment they use including allowing the children to wear their helmets and coats. Attendees of the event also got a rare look into the Federal Bureau Of Investigation’s operations van and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Field operations truck. One of the big hits of the event was the Albany International Airport Crash Truck. Children had a rare opportunity to climb up inside and see all of the controls and get their photo inside of the vehicle.

Sparky one of the mascots of the fire department made his way through the crowd giving high-fives and bouncing around with the children at the event. Also the K-9’s from the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control were in their glory with the families that attended the event. The handlers explain to the public what their dogs do in the operational needs of their agency. At around 7:45 PM the Life Net helicopter landed in the backfield and crews opened their doors welcoming the public to get a tour of the helicopter and explaining what the crews do during emergencies to help people in need.

At 8 PM the fire department conducted their live pod burn and firefighters demonstrated how quickly fire can spread in today’s construction along with how flammable materials are in homes today. Within two minutes the pod was well involved and had heavy fire pushing out of the front of the building. Chief O’Connor explain to the crowd how firefighters can rapidly extinguish the fires and what they were doing. Chief O’Connor also explained to the children and parents after the pod burn had been extinguished how investigators determine the cause of the fires.

The Shaker Road Fire Department holds One of the largest fire prevention events in the capital region and is the leaders in the area on these types of events. In the year of 2021 the department had close to over 800 people attend this event. These types of events are very valuable for community relations and education and with the hope of sparking interest in parents and children in becoming firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical technicians to serve and protect their community.