- April 14, 2025
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Konnor Stout, age 8, aspires to be in the Coast Guard when he grows up. Photos by Anastasia Pagello
Jack and Darla McGrath get the privilege to sit in the drivers side of a Flagler County fire engine.
Palm Coast Waste Management employee Richie Mercer with his daughters Mercedes and Kailee with their friend Logan Munson.
CJ Johnston, Madyson and Autumn Mortimer
Firefighter Paramedic Jeff Poeira shows Jules Stout the interior of a fire engine.
Kids got to explore the inside of a fire engine at the Touch a Truck event in Central Park on Friday, March 11.
“Almost every day when I am out working on the side of a road kids will stop and stare in awe at the big trucks and equipment.”
CJ Johnston, equipment operator
Kids of all ages had a unique opportunity to get up close and sit inside of a Flagler County fire engine, police vehicle and a waste management truck on Friday, March 11, at Central Park in Town Center before the showing of the featured film “Max.”
Children and their parents asked the city employees a million questions about the various parts and inner workings of the machinery and ogled over the height of a fully extended fire engine ladder. The event gave the youngsters a better idea of what all of those toggles and switches are used for on a daily basis.
“When I was a kid and saw a firetruck go past I would get excited,” Firefighter Paramedic Patrick Shakes said. “Seeing these trucks up close, it gives them something to aspire towards,” added Shakes as he bent down to give a little boy a plastic red helmet.
“He has been looking forward to this event for a week,” said Lynnette Capriotti, the two-year-old boy’s grandmother. “Firefighting runs in Jack’s family. On both sides he has great-grandfathers who were firefighters. He even insisted on wearing his special fire engine shirt.”
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