Fire trucks draw huge crowd at Hempfield fire prevention event

Stella Mincucci of Hempfield was winding the siren on the old Slickville Fire Department truck as fast as her 4-year-old hands could move Tuesday night at the Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield, with a little help from her mother, Jennifer Gavatorta.

For youngsters like Stella, who also was accompanied by her grandmother, Mary Kiley of Hempfield, the 23rd annual Hempfield-Greensburg Fire Prevention Day was like a giant festival featuring hundreds of fire trucks, ladder trucks, rescue vehicles, a children’s fire house, red plastic firefighters’ hats and, of course, hot dogs, pop and popcorn.

The event is presented by the fire departments in Greensburg, Hempfield, South Greensburg and Southwest Greensburg during Fire Prevention Week, but attracted fire departments and units from throughout the county, said Doug Fordyce, chief of the Hannastown Fire Department and a member of the committee that organizes the event.

Fordyce estimated there were more than 100 trucks at the event and about 80 volunteer fire departments were represented, as well as Westmoreland County’s Department of Public Safety and the county’s coroner’s office.

“It’s a good safety presentation,” said Fordyce.

“It’s great to see the kids come out,” and some of them may want to volunteer when they get older, said Tony Manley, an assistant Greensburg fire chief. The event was dedicated to the late Ed Hutchinson, who served as Greensburg fire chief for 63 years before retiring in 2016. Hutchinson died in April.

Looking around at all of the fire department vehicles, Bill Hare, a Mt. Pleasant fire department lieutenant, noted that “there’s millions of dollars of equipment here,” and it’s all from volunteer fire departments.

Hare and his friend, Dave Bert, a Mt. Pleasant fire department captain, watched as youngsters worked the siren on the department’s first motorized truck, a 1915 vehicle with wooden ladders attached to the bed of the truck.

“Everybody loves this old truck. We take it to Fort Ligonier Days, to the (Mt. Pleasant) Glass Festival. To have something like this and not show it would be a shame,” Hare said.

While Fordyce could not estimate how many people visited the event, parking areas around the Sears Roebuck store were jammed.

Gavatorta said her daughter learned about the Fire Prevention Day event from a flyer placed at her preschool in Greensburg. She loved seeing the Greensburg Fire Department’s bloodhound.

Amy Fedorski and her husband, Darren, of Greensburg brought their three children, Ella, 6, Mason, 3, and Ben, 1, to the event.

“The kids were really excited about the fire trucks and the possibility of learning something about fire safety,” Amy Fedorski said.

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252 or jnapsha@tribweb.com.