I was asked to drive a fire truck a few evenings, a few weeks ago, to assist my fire department in driving Santa around town to various neighborhoods each night and let him visit with the children in the neighborhood. Staton Five`s pumper leads off the parade of trucks, followed by one of our brush trucks pulling the trailer with Santa in his sleigh aboard, the Ladder Truck following the trailer in the nightly parade. I was assigned to Pumper 814 and was located behind the Ladder Truck, which was beautifully decorated with multiple strands of Christmas lights. I remained behind the Ladder, unless the lead pumper was dispatched to a call, which only happened one time and then we took the lead.Behind us was the Rescue Truck and then a couple of support vehicles with extra personnel aboard. We started out from a pre-set location in each neighborhood and as we drove through each area, we did so with our lights and sirens activated to generate interest from the area children, stopping at designated locations where we had advertised our event with signs.

Here is our first stop at Vine and McKinley Streets the first night of the Santa Drive….

…..and the next photo shows Santa`s Sleigh on the trailer with the elves preparing to help the children up the ramp to see and talk to Santa up close and personal…

…and the Sleigh a bit closer up….

Marko Turner drove the Ladder Truck the first couple of nights that I drove Pumper 814, and here he is parked at one of the locations….

…and here is the Ladder Truck from the side and back….

…and here we are the second night, on the first stop near the Police Station…

…and Santa visiting with some neighborhood children and a helper assisting…

….the trucks lined up….

…and at the last stop, Santa waves goodbye….