Benicia ended fire prevention week with their annual open house Saturday, Oct. 10 at Fire Station 11 at 150 Military West.

BFD’s Open House had participants from Benicia Police Department, California Highway Patrol, United States Coast Guard, Benicia 911 Dispatchers, Benicia Fire Volunteers, Benicia Amateur Radio Club, Benicia Emergency Response Team, Medic Ambulance, Pacific Gas and Electric, REACH Air Medical and Valero Benicia Refinery Fire Department all come together to teach methods of public and fire safety.

Guests were invited to enjoy free admission to tour the fire station, ride along on fire engines, participate in hands-on fire extinguisher demos and Coast Guard boat tours, and watch a demonstration of the K-9 unit sniff out narcotics.

Face painting and a bouncy house were also provided for all children to enjoy.

Tony Horner, 41, a Benicia fire engineer, was in charge of organizing this event to bring this small town of 30,000 people together to learn about public safety.

“This open house has been going on for awhile now, but this is the fourth year it has been as big as it is now. We have around 800 to 1000 people attend each time in the last 4 years,” said Horner. “Its a hard job with 2 departments in town and getting everyone together for one day.”

Lisa Krimsky, 55, has been a 911 dispatcher for twenty years for Benicia. Before Benicia she had twelve years of experience as a dispatcher at San Francisco.

“I like to meet and socialize with people.” Krimsky said, “I get to educate them on 911 calls emergency and non-emergency.”

Attendee Natasha Enos said, “My favorite part was watching the kids interact with the officers and firefighters. Also, the (REACH) helicopter flew so close to the department and I got to sit in a CHP car. It was amazing how much effort they put into this event.”

Enos said, “Being twenty-years-old I never thought I would have as much fun as I did.”

Next year fire prevention week is on Oct. 9-15, 2016.