Area fire departments will be hosting open houses for National Fire Prevention Week to educate the public on fire safety and show people what they do. (New Philadelphia Fire Department)

TUSCARAWAS COUNTY (Tusco TV) - Area fire departments will be showing off their stations and equipment next week to get people thinking about fire safety.

National Fire Prevention Week runs October 6th through 12th, and departments countywide are marking the occasion by hosting community open houses. Dennison Fire Chief Dave McConnell says theirs will be Monday from 5 to 8 pm with fun activities to educate kids and their parents. 

"We’ll have a children’s bounce house and slide there. We will have a children’s obstacle course. We just have a lot of different activities to teach fire prevention and safety education going on as well as some free refreshments and stuff like that," he says.

Uhrichsville has its fire safety open house Tuesday evening from 6 to 8. Firefighter Shane Dorlands says they’ll have giveaways, refreshments, demonstrations, and a smokehouse for kids to walk through.

"They’ll be able to hear a smoke detector going off and we’ll actually put fake smoke in there to fill the room up with smoke and the smoke detector will go off and we’ll teach them how to stay low in the room, stay underneath the smoke and how to crawl out of the house safely in case of a fire. We’ll also have a little kitchen area in there to teach them about home safety with cooking," he says. 

Dover Fire Captain Brooks Ross says their open house is at the main fire station Wednesday from 6 to 8 pm. He says it will include tours, food trucks, a prize drawing, and a variety of safety-related demonstrations. 

"We’ll have a demonstration of an automobile extrication using the jaws of life, and we’re also going to put on a display of kind of the new standards we’re using now when it comes to doing CPR on somebody," he says.

New Phila will be holding their fire safety open house Thursday from 5 to 8 pm. Captain Jim Schultz says it gives people a chance to see what they do.  

"When they’re here, they can see different things from how our trucks operate. Also we show how the jaws of life work. We also have a helicopter come from Med-Flight. They’ll land at some point during that open house, so we have a lot to do for the family," he says. 

Strasburg will also have their fire safety open house happening Thursday evening from 6 to 8, and Sugarcreek’s will be October 18th from 5 to 8.