STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Grab a burger, practice your fire extinguisher skills and watch as firefighters demonstrate how they extricate someone from a car accident with the Jaws of Life during Saturday’s Blaine County Fire Expo.

The Fire Expo, one of the Northwest’s biggest fire fairs, will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 22, at Festival Meadows on Sun Valley Road.

This year’s event will include crowd favorites: The Firefighter Skill Drill and the Junior Firefighter Obstacle Course.

The Firefighter Skill Drill features an array of jobs typically seen at fires all done in real time. The crowd will hear the tones go out over the loudspeaker, setting in motion a fire crews’ response in an engine and forcible entry through a door enroute to extinguishing a fire. They will also cut through a roof and rescue a downed firefighter.

The Junior Firefighter Obstacle Course, meanwhile, challenges kids to take up fire hoses as they complete a miniature lifelike firefighter skills contest. Prizes will be awarded.

The Fire Expo started out as Fire Services Appreciation Day in 2003—a way for firefighters to share a BBQ with neighbors and let youngsters get familiar with them and the gear they wear in case the youngsters should ever be involved in a fire or other emergency.

This year will be no different as they educate kids and their parents about fire safety, smoke alarms and more. There will be souvenirs for youngsters to take home.