CHILDREN and adults alike were able to unleash their inner firefighter on Saturday as Stratton’s finest opened up the fire station for charity.

The annual occasion has become quite the hit with families over the years and hundreds turned out for the chance to take a peek through a fire engine while others had a go at using a fire hose.

With a whole host of other activities and games on offer for the entire family, any money raised will be divided between the Fire Fighters Charity and Crowdys Hill School.

Wendy Regan, 30 brought along her daughter Summer, eight, to the event as her husband James is a firefighter at the station.

She said: “Summer loves it and we always come along if they are holding something. There’s little games for the kids and something for everyone.

“People should come out to support these sorts of event because it raises money for charity and it is for a good cause.”

Jo Harnett’s daughter Chloe, 13, attend Crowdys Hill School and said she appreciates how many people support the open day as the money raised will help pay for a new sensory room.

“It is very important to support this event because it raises money for charity but also the school who do a fantastic job,” the 41-year-old said.

“We’ve come to all the fetes over the years and it is really nice to be able to come to the station so all the children can have a look around the fire engines and see what these guys do.

“Kids love these sorts of days out and it is a great free day out right on your doorstep.”

As well as both modern and vintage fire engines on display, there was also demonstrations to crowds on how fire crews deal with emergency situations such as road traffic collisions.

The Stratton team were also on hand to talk to people about becoming an on-call firefighter.

Watch Manager Mark Evans, from Stratton Fire Station, said he was delighted by how many people had turned up.

“Days like these are all about families and raising the money is secondary to seeing everyone have a nice time," he added.

“Fire stations are quite a closed space and so it is nice to open the doors up so that people can see where we work.

“The open day is also about letting other groups and charities use our platform to spread word of what they do and boost donations so if we can help them then that can only be a good thing.”

Rachel Russell, chairman of the Friends of Crowdys Hill School, said while the pounds and pennies are still being totalled up, it is anticipated that the number will exceed the hundreds.

“It is nice to do something different with our fete which is why we’ve joined up with the fire station," she explained. "If we did it at the school, we tend to get only pupils and parents but here we have a much bigger group of people who have been able to find out exactly what we are about and what we do.”