MEDIA WRITING: Event Story
Fire departments commemorate national fire prevention week in downtown christiansburg
October 2023
Christiansburg hosted its annual Fire Prevention Parade on October 10 in the heart of downtown to recognize National Fire Prevention Week, observed across the U.S.
“This event is a continuing awareness to our citizens about the significance of fire prevention and it’s critical that we conduct this event each year,” said Mike Barber, Mayor of Christiansburg. “If we reach one family and give them the steps that might save their lives during Fire Prevention Week, then we know that this annual celebration has been well worth it.”
Over 60 local emergency response vehicles from surrounding communities in the New River Valley gathered in front of Christiansburg’s Town Hall to highlight the importance of fire safety. At 7 p.m. the vehicles lined up on East Main Street to begin the parade route downtown which ran through Radford and Depot street and ended at the Christiansburg Fire Department.
Barber stated that an extreme amount of teamwork from different departments helped prepare for the town event. The town’s special event committee met to review the process and determine the steps needed for the parade to run smoothly. The public information department and the local police department also worked closely to block off the streets, set up barricades and distribute hearing protection via utility task vehicles.
“We have never attended this event before and on the West Main Street side of town, there are so many tall buildings, so the sirens make you feel like you’re in an echo chamber,” said Tasha Austin, mother of two. “However, my kids loved seeing the firemen in our community wave at them and throw candy out of the firetruck windows. It was an educational family-friendly event to attend.”
Barber added that every one of the firefighters got involved at some point during the event which provided the community an opportunity to give recognition to the workers who risk their lives each day.
“Our town is blessed to have such dedicated volunteers who are willing to get up in the middle of the night and leave their families on days like Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Barber said. “This parade doesn’t only promote the importance of fire safety, but it showcases the efforts and commitment that these individuals put forth on a daily basis.”
The events leading up to the parade began at 5:45 p.m. with the first Touch-a-Truck which allowed people to become familiar with the fire units and equipment that emergency response departments use in the New River Valley. This activity also gave kids the chance to explore the inside of a fire truck, challenging their fine motor skills and educating them on the tools that the town’s firefighters use.
“We have found that over the years, there is just some amazing connection between little kids and trucks which really built the excitement among the community when we started promoting this event,” Barber said. “Honestly, this part of the event is for everyone. I saw several big kids playing in the trucks as well.”
Danny Yopp, assistant fire chief, emphasized that he believes there is no better way to bring attention to the community than to have an event that involves the children. He added that over the course of the 50 years he has worked at the department, he has never seen so many families come out to the event than what he experienced this year.
While families attended the first part of the celebration, Freedom First Credit Union employees were also in attendance, handing out ice cream cones to individuals. Since 2010, the credit union’s mission has been to give back to the community ‘one scoop at a time’ with the Scoop ice cream truck which was created to bring free ice cream to community events throughout the New River Valley region.
“The outcome of the Touch-a-Truck and the Scoops Ice Cream Truck went over extremely well,” Yopp said. “Before the parade took place, we already had over 250 attendees surrounding the trucks. We were hoping for a good turnout like this one, so the Touch-a-Truck event will definitely be in store for next year’s celebration.”
The event concluded at the fire station where the Christiansburg firefighters hosted a chili bean supper for the other departments in attendance. Yopp added that his crew attended 5 parades during National Fire Prevention Week to bring awareness to families in other parts of the region.
“Our main concern is always to get the fire safety education out to our kids, so we sent out fliers to the schools in the area leading up to this event to get the word out,” Yopp said.
In addition to getting the school community involved, the public relations department worked with the fire department to create online fliers, advertise through Facebook posts, produce digital billboard displays and publish event details on local news sources.
“Pizza Inn also hosted a meet-and-greet in their parking lot for the community to say hello to the firefighters and promote the town parade for the following day,” said Katie Rabago public relations specialist. “Before the event, the restaurant put fliers in the pizza boxes to get the word out. It was really a town effort that helped make the parade turnout so perfectly.”
