Tag: fireman

Rocky Hill Fireman: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
I was so excited for the opportunity to review the Rocky Hill: Fireman series. These delightfully written stories by James Burd Brewster are a great way to teach kids about fire safety and the life of a fireman. I love the beautiful illustrations and my girls have thoroughly enjoyed each book in this series. Rocky’s motto, “Glad to do it!” is a running theme throughout the series and portrays the heart behind those who do this dangerous job. 
The series follows Rocky Hill as he begins his career as a fireman. He is courageous and strong, but nervous as he starts out with his new life as a rescuer. I like how each book follows the same character. My girls love reading series and can’t wait to find out what will happen with characters next!
Rose asked if she could read aloud the stories to her sisters and I happily agreed.  They are written on about a 3rd grade level and the text is easy to follow. When Rose was younger she always said she wanted to either be a fire-girl or police-woman. She’s moved on to other career goals, but still loves learning about these jobs! 
Grace told me she really liked the pictures. She had lots of questions about what different things were called as they read. Beth loved the stories too and said she wished she could meet Rocky! 
Ever since we took our field trip to the fire station last year the girls have been very interested in the fire department. When we were reading these books they would stop and say, “Remember when Mr. Mark showed us this at his station?” It was fun to think back and for them to have another connection to this high profession. 
I appreciate the author humanizes his main character. It is easy to think those who do such great and important work to save people are larger than life. These books are a great opportunity to show children anyone can be used to do great things. We related Rocky to our real-life fireman friend Mark and talked about what it must be like for Mark as he works. 
A wonderful addition to these books are the online resources! You can download coloring pages and even join the Glad to do it Club! It is clear the author has a heart for teaching kids about fire safety and has done a great job through is books which I highly recommend. 

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of each book in this series directly from the author for review. I was not required to write a positive review. I was not compensated in any other way. 

Field Trip: Hollywood Fire Station

Grace-Filled Writer
Are you looking for a fun, new experience for your kids to beat the winter blahs? I suggest the fire station! We have a good friend who attends my in-laws church and happily showed us around the busiest station in Hollywood, FL. Mark truly loves his job and he was such a great guide!

This station has an engine, a bucket truck, and an EMS truck as well as two back-up EMS trucks which are mostly used for events like football games. Mark currently works on the EMS truck.

Mark took time to show the girls what was in every compartment of the engine, explain all about the different hoses, show which tools were most important to the fire fighters, and answered all of our questions. The girls asked a lot about the different knobs and buttons they saw on the truck. We also found out that the most common calls the EMS truck gets are, “I’m not feeling well,” from the elderly.

The girls even got to try holding some of the equipment and were surprised just how heavy it was!

My husband also tried out some of the equipment. He commented how heavy it must be to carry just the air tank for a long time, let alone adding on everything else. The girls enjoyed watching Daddy get fitted for a tank!

One of Mark’s fireman friends, Emmanuel, put on all his gear and showed everything to the girls. He was so nice and Rose was fascinated, but Grace and Beth were a little intimidated. It was great for them to see and Mark made sure to tell them that if they were ever in a fire and saw someone dressed like this coming toward them not to run away because they were the good guys there to help them. I had never thought about it, but for a kid in trouble who is already scared, this would be pretty intimidating.

(Daddy got in this picture because of the nervous girls!)
Beth helped close one of the compartments on the truck. She was overwhelmed and didn’t ask as many questions as Rose, but she had a great time and enjoyed herself the whole time. 
We also saw where the rescue workers hang out and eat while not on a call…
where they do their laundry…
where they find their calls…
and where they hang their equipment!

This was not only an informative and very interesting field trip for the girls, it also helped them see rescue workers as real people and I hope would help them from being scared if they were ever in need of them. Everyone at the fire station took time to come over and meet us and say hello to my girls. I love that we were able to be shown around by a friend. It made everything more personal and memorable for all of us. 
Here’s a great big, “Thank You!” to Mark and all of the other rescue workers at Station 5 of the Hollywood Fire and Rescue Department!