Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

From 5-7 p.m. tonight, The Austin Fire Department will be holding its annual open house.

This is always a fun event as kids get the opportunity to visit Sparky, see the fire engines up close, meet the firefighters and even come away with a snack.

Every year, it’s commonplace to see smiling kids run from station to station, thrilled to be able to put on the gear of a firefighter and have a turn on the fire hose.

However, adults get something out of this as well, as they are trained on the proper use of a fire extinguisher.

At the same time, there is another important aspect of this and it’s a simple one. It allows people to get to know their community’s firefighters and for kids this becomes increasingly important.

A fire is a scary situation to have to go through if one is unfortunate enough, and for kids you can guess that fear expands greatly. Fires often require firefighters to venture into the house to put the blaze out, an experience that’s complicated by the dense smoke and the blaze itself.

Now imagine how frightening that becomes if you are trapped in the house? As a young child, that fear is already high, but now somebody is coming out of that blaze that they are not familiar with. Somebody who is loaded with gear and wearing a mask and talking funny.

During an informal and casual open house, children get to see in broad daylight that a firefighter is nobody to be afraid of and in the case where they are in trouble, a firefighter emerging from the smoke is there to help them.

So go to tonight’s event, get to know the firefighters and the trucks and ask questions. It’s a fun night, but it can also have effects that carry forward into the future.