Any other time, hearing sirens wailing, and seeing multiple emergency service vehicles parked at Centennial Park in Callander, would raise concerns.
Instead, what people saw and heard on Saturday at the Callander waterfront was Sirens in the Park, a day of fun activities geared towards youngsters and their families, hosted by Callander Fire and Emergency Services.
“It’s a little loud, but it is going great,” laughed Callander Fire Chief Todd Daley.
The focus of the day is to bring emergency service personnel together to provide safety information to youngsters in an educational and interactive environment
“We’ve got support from OPP, North Bay Police, North Bay Fire, Ambulance, East Ferris Fire, Callander Fire, of course, BAYSAR is here, Natural Resources and Corrections is here as well. So, we’ve got support from everybody.”
Sirens in the Park got its start on the heels of a similar educational program called Heroes in the Sky.
Firefighters would stay on the roof of Callander Square for 30 hours, with educational events and demonstrations going on in the parking lot below.
“We basically did everything for free. We had a pancake breakfast, we gave away hot dogs, and we tried to sell a calendar for $20. It was good, but it was at the plaza and it interfered with business. We did that for a couple of years,” explained Daley.
The Fire Chief was approached by the President of the Fire Fighters Association at the time, suggesting a move to the park. And it remains a success roughly 10 years later.
They stopped selling the calendars and started selling food at the waterfront canteen.
”We’re really not doing this as a fundraiser. We really want people to see and interact with emergency service personnel and see the variety of emergency services that are involved in all sorts of things. If East Ferris has a big call, and they need help, they will call us or they will call North Bay and we go help through the mutual aid system. On a highway call, police, ambulance, paramedics, tow services, we’re all on the highway working to help whoever is in trouble.”
Unfortunately, people only get to see these services when something bad has happened.
This is an opportunity to meet and speak with emergency personnel in a non-crisis situation.
“People see an ambulance drive by, but they never get to see the inside of an ambulance and how it works. They never get to talk to a paramedic. They never get to ask questions. So that is what we’re really trying to do. So it is public education and interaction,” noted Daley.
President of the Callander Fire Fighters Association, Braden Shuman says it means a great deal to be able to showcase what the volunteer firefighter's job entails.
“It gives the community a chance to see what equipment we have, who is on the fire department representing their municipality and it is good education because they get to touch and feel the equipment,” said Shuman.
“We love doing this. It is one of our main events for the year and we all look forward to it.”
Using a fire hose, five-year-old Finlay Muirhead takes aim at “flames” visible in the windows of a wooden cut-out designed to look like a house, under the watchful eye of a Callander volunteer firefighter while proud mom Melinda Coleman looks on.
“This is great. They’ve done such a great job this year on the park and we’re so excited to be able to live in Callander and experience these kinds of things. He (Findlay) loves getting in the fire trucks and trying all the equipment and learning all about the different jobs.”
Coleman wasn’t the only parent who appreciated the opportunity to have their little one learn more about fire and emergency services.
“It is very cool, I have to say, being able to go inside the vehicles and check them out and chit-chat with everyone, and to see what they do, and how they do everything behind the scenes you don’t get to see every day,” said dad Devon Bugutsky, who was at the event with his six-year-old son Finnley.
“I think it is cool because all the little kids get to see it too, and it furthers their interest in these careers.“
The event isn’t about fundraising. Everything is free thanks to sponsorship and the sale of food at the canteen.
The day wrapped up with a screen movie in the park at dusk, staring John Cena in “Playing with Fire.”
