UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The Union Township Fire Department will open the doors of its headquarters station Sunday, Oct. 4, for a Fire Prevention Week open house featuring a grill out, truck tours and hands-on demonstrations, the department said in a Facebook post.
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Station 51, 860 Clough Pike, and will include touch-a-truck opportunities, station tours and safe-charging information, according to the department.
The open house kicks off National Fire Prevention Week, which runs Oct. 4-10 this year. Union Township firefighters will also open the department’s five other stations for public tours Oct. 5-9, from 6 to 8 p.m. each evening. Visitors who pick up a bingo card at the Oct. 4 open house and visit all six township stations during the week can enter to win a prize, the department said.
Fire Prevention Week is the longest-running public health observance in the country, marking the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of Oct. 8-9, 1871, which killed more than 250 people and destroyed more than 17,400 structures. The Fire Marshals Association of North America established the first National Fire Prevention Day in 1911, and President Woodrow Wilson issued the first National Fire Prevention Day proclamation in 1920. The National Fire Protection Association has sponsored the full week-long observance every year since 1922.
Station 51, officially named the Stanley G. Deimling Fire Headquarters, was built in 2006 and houses Quint 51, a 2024 E-One Spartan 75-foot ladder truck, and Medic 51, a 2023 Ford ambulance, in addition to the department’s administrative offices.
The station is one of six operated by the Union Township Fire Department, which traces its roots to the Withamsville Fire Department, founded in 1942, and the North Union Fire Department, founded in 1956. The two volunteer departments merged in 1990 to form the current department, which now staffs full-time, cross-trained firefighter-paramedics covering a township of nearly 50,000 residents. The department has held accreditation from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International since 2004.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Union Township Fire Department.