NEBRASKA CITY – Nebraska City volunteer firefighters were rewarded Sunday for an emphasis on the fire prevention festival with 300 kids and their families learning about fire safety and thinking about firefighters as their friends in case of an emergency.

Nebraska City has traditionally held some events at the fire station, but attendance started to drop off through the years.

 

 

Firefighter Michael Lollman said new features, like the inflatable obstacle course, encouraged an expansion to the outdoors in conjunction with the Nebraska City Museum of Firefighting. He said volunteer firefighters  didn’t have big attendance to point to, but needed financial donations and continue to need donations.

He led a committee of seven other firefighters this year organizing school events, providing fire safety materials and asking for public support.

Lollman: “We didn’t really have the funds to continue on doing a lot of things, so we really focused on raising the funds to buy different things, interactive things, teaching tools and information for families to use. We say it’s fire prevention for children, but it’s really fire prevention for families.”

Hundreds of kids turned out to wear fire gear, handle a charged fire hose, navigate a smoke house and stay low while traversing the inflatable obstacle course that was purchased with funds from the Vincent and Marie Kreifels Family Foundation.

 

Lollman said the event was well-received by kids and firefighters.

Lollman: “We really are a close-knit group. If we go into an emergency situation, we have to have eachother’s backs, so we are a pretty tight group. Events like this kind of help us connect with each other too and work toward a common goal of not having to go in and put out fires. Every fire prevented, it makes our lives easier and safer.”

He asked residents to continue to support the fire safety festival.