Open house set at station

Voters are encouraged to vote for the permanent tax to stabilize city safety forces, the mayor said.

BY MAYSOON ABDELRASUL

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — Firefighters say it is important to educate children on fire safety and the best time to do it is this week, National Fire Prevention Week.

To kick off the week, Warren’s 24 classes of first-grade students colored a picture of a firefighter and the three judges picked one winner from each class.

Mayor Michael O’Brien, Bobby Dellimutti from DeLucia’s restaurant and Susan DeLeo from WKBN TV-27 judged the coloring contest at Central Fire Station.

The winners can pick up their smoke detectors Sunday at the fire station from 1 to 5 p.m. during its annual open house.

Lt. Paul Lamosek is in charge of the open house and hopes that children come with their parents to learn about fire safety.

“It’s just a good family day to see what the fire department does in the community,” he said.

Firefighters will be giving tours of the station, equipment, performing extrication from a car using the “jaws of life” and giving children the opportunity to spray water from a fire hose.

The fire safety trailer, a training tool to teach children safety tips such as making 911 calls, checking hot doors and crawling under smoke to safety will be available so kids can have hands-on activities, Lamosek said.

The firefighters made about 500 goodie bags to give to the children. These bags include fire safety pamphlets and other items.

The fire department’s annual budget is $7 million and that includes capital improvements, maintenance, wages and benefits, said Marc Titis, president of Local 204, international association of Firefighters.

In November, Warren voters will see a “citizens for a safer city” tax on the ballot. The 0.5 mill measure is in some respects renewal tax, so voters won’t pay more. But this time it’s being made permanent as opposed to previous years when it was temporary.

O’Brien is encouraging voters to vote for the tax to stabilize safety forces in the city. He said it is difficult to recruit firefighters and police officers when there is an uncertain tax in the city, because it does not ensure job security.

“If unsuccessful, we wouldn’t be cutting the fat off the safety department, we would be cutting the muscle off the safety department,” he said.

If the tax passes, the fire department will be looking into buying a new firetruck with an estimated cost of $400,000.