The sound of vintage brass fire bells — and the occasional squeal prompted by a dropped ice cream cone — rattled the Bend Fire Department’s north station Saturday, at the department’s annual open house.

Hundreds of local residents, most with young kids in tow, streamed through the station Saturday to climb over both antique and modern fire trucks, take a turn handling a fire hose, pick up a free ice cream cone, and watch Bend firefighters torch two replica living rooms and dismantle a car with the Jaws of Life.

Dan Derlacki, deputy fire marshal with the department and organizer of Saturday’s event, said while children’s fascination with fire trucks and fire fighting draws families to the open house, the department tries to use the opportunity to teach important lessons.

“It’s a fun day, we get to meet the public, talk to them, show them some of the fun stuff we have,” he said. “But, also fire safety — working smoke alarms, safety in the kitchen, that kind of thing.”

The department’s annual open house falls in the middle of National Fire Prevention Week, Derlacki said, and this year, the week is dedicated to educating the public on the importance of smoke alarms. Functioning smoke alarms are one of the most reliable ways to ensure victims of a house fire escape unhurt, he said, and if it takes kids coming home from the open house needling their parents to make sure their alarms are working, so be it.

“They can help us out a lot, through their parents,” Derlacki said.

Outside the station, kids and parents got an up-close look at just what smoke alarms and fire sprinklers can do.

Deputy Fire Marshal Cindy Kettering lit a wastepaper basket fire in two mock living rooms, one with sprinklers and one without. In both, smoke alarms began chirping before flames even cleared the top of the basket. In the room with a sprinkler system, water came raining down from the ceiling barely a minute after the fire was lit, confining the damage to the wastepaper basket. But in the room with no sprinklers, flames spread quickly, engulfing the basket, a couch and a chair and kicking up a large cloud of black smoke before Capt. Mike Baxter stepped up to quash it with a fire hose.

Following a round of polite applause from the audience, Baxter visited with a small group of kids, one of whom announced “you smell like burnt marshmallows” before slipping back into the crowd.

Teagan Barker, 3, of Bend, said seeing the department’s trucks in person was great, particularly as the toy fire truck he has at home recently broke. Teagan said he plans to dress as a firefighter for Halloween, but was unable to decide if he likes the firefighters’ lights, sirens or hoses best.

“It’s cool,” Teagan said.

Cruz Howitt, 5, of Bend, came fully prepared on Saturday, clad in a set of fire turnouts and a helmet. Fresh off a turn using a fire hose to spray down a traffic cone parked in the sagebrush, Cruz said he was particularly impressed by the live fire demonstration.

“My favorite thing I saw out here today is the fire on the houses,” Cruz said.

Despite his costume, Cruz said he has no interest in being a firefighter when he’s older — instead, he’d prefer to drive a garbage truck.

“Fires are dangerous,” he explained.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com

“It’s a fun day, we get to meet the public, talk to them, show them some of the fun stuff we have. But, also fire safety — working smoke alarms, safety in the kitchen, that kind of thing.” — Dan Derlacki, deputy fire marshal