The Bainbridge Island Fire Department will celebrate its 80th anniversary with a party at Battle Point Park July 23 from 1-4 p.m.
Fire chief Hank Teran is inviting the public.
The community picnic, part of a yearlong anniversary of events, will be held in the meadow at the south end of the park near the observatory and will feature a ladder truck on display for a touch-a-truck experience along with food trucks, face painting and balloons for kids, old-fashioned games and a three-legged race with a firefighter.
The BIFD was founded in 1942 and is the longest-serving government agency on BI and was the second fire district in Kitsap County, which is why the main station is No. 21.
BIFD is commemorating events, sharing its traditions and historical photos on its Facebook page during weekly posts called Throwback Thursdays.
“We’re posting little snippets of the station’s history, whether that’s all the way back to the ’40s, in 1942, or if that’s just 20 years ago. We’re trying to do these Throwback Thursdays which has been kind of fun. We’re getting some neat response for that,” Teran said.
The department has 50 firefighters, fire prevention technicians, paramedics and EMTs as well as 20 unpaid volunteers who respond to more than 3,000 emergency calls annually out of three fire stations.
For details, go to www.bifd.org.
In accordance with tradition, the new Engine 21 is pushed into the apparatus bay on Oct. 12, 2021 by firefighters because horses could not back in the original fire trucks into the station. Instead, the wheel spokes and tires were cleaned.
