Fire Department to Host Bimonthly Open Houses; First Event Set for Saturday, Aug. 20, 10 a.m.
Starting this Saturday, the Clark County Fire Department will host a community open house at one fire station every other month as part of a new program to educate the public about health and safety topics.
The first open house will be held on Saturday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fire Station 17 located at 5110 Andover Drive, near Tropicana Avenue and Boulder Highway. The public can take a tour of the fire station and obtain fire, drowning prevention and other life safety information from the Fire Department and other community organizations. Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, whose commission District G includes Fire Station 17, plans to attend Saturday’s event.
“Our fire stations are tremendous assets to our community,” Commissioner Scow said. “The new open house program will give citizens the opportunity to meet the first responders who serve their neighborhoods and obtain important safety information to assist their families.”
Participating agencies at Saturday’s event include Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Safe Kids Clark County, Healthy Homes, UMC Burn Center and Healthy Smiles. The Fire Department’s fire safety house, which teaches children how to get out of their homes safely in case of fire, will be at the event in addition to its popular “Captain Be Safe” inflatable firefighter character.
“We are hosting these open houses as a collaborative effort among many public safety partners because education is the key to saving lives and preventing emergencies from occurring,” said Clark County Fire Chief Bertral Washington. “We also enjoy being able to provide access to our fire stations in an open house setting because we get numerous requests each year for tours but can’t always accommodate them because of staffing and the need to respond to calls for help.”
The next open house will be held on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Fire Station 38, located at 1755 Silver Hawk Ave, near east Serene Avenue and Spencer Street. The Clark County Fire Department is the largest in the state and is responsible for protecting the famed Las Vegas Strip. The department has 29 full-time fire stations and 13 volunteer stations, responding to 124,554 incidents in 2010.
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Clark County is a dynamic and innovative organization dedicated to providing top-quality service with integrity, respect and accountability. With jurisdiction over the world-famous Las Vegas Strip and covering an area the size of New Jersey, Clark is the nation’s 14th-largest county and provides extensive regional services to more than 2 million citizens and 40 million visitors a year. Included are the nation’s 8th-busiest airport, air quality compliance, social services and the state’s largest public hospital, University Medical Center. The county also provides municipal services that are traditionally provided by cities to almost 900,000 residents in the unincorporated area. Those include fire protection, roads and other public works, parks and recreation, and planning and development.