Youngsters ages 5 to 14 who are interested in learning about fire safety and firefighting are invited to attend the 2023 Kids' Fire Experience, a camp being offered this summer at the Christiana Fire Company.

The annual event will begin with a Family Night on Friday, Aug. 25, at 6:30 p.m., followed by the camp on Saturday, Aug. 26, which has been tentatively set to begin at 8 a.m. The registration deadline is Monday, July 24.

On Family Night, children will receive a T-shirt to wear to camp the following day. There will also be carnival games. "We will have an inflatable obstacle course, free food and some apparatus on display," said Kim Moore, vice president of the Christiana Fire Company and one of the organizers of the fire camp. "It's turned more into a community event."

During fire camp on Aug. 26, youngsters will rotate through a series of stations. Topics will include CPR and the Heimlich maneuver. They will also be able to watch a car cutting, which is what emergency workers do to rescue a trapped victim, and practice using fire extinguishers.

"(The children) will do a lot of hands-on staff with EMS, fire and police. I have (representatives) there from all of those areas," Moore explained. "(The children will go through) smoke mazes, which illustrates what firefighters do when they go into a house when it's on fire."

She said the goal of the fire camp is for children not to be afraid of EMS workers in the event of a real emergency and to hopefully recruit campers as future volunteers.

Moore noted that the camp has been held at the fire company since 2005. "We usually get about 125 to 145 kids," she reported.

The camp's success can be measured by how participants used what they learned in real-life situations. "One child whose house was on fire - there was chimney fire - knew enough to get his grandmother out so she was safe, and he learned that at kids' camp," Moore recalled. "A child was sitting at dinner, and his brother was choking, and he did the Heimlich, which he learned at kids' camp. Even if there is one success story a year, it's well worth it."

All of the learning sessions are led by local emergency workers. "I have companies coming from southern Chester County and Lancaster County," Moore noted "There is usually at least 100 volunteers. They come from all different stations. Each group brings apparatus and a truck with their equipment, and they usually bring five to six crew members. They all volunteer their time. We do it for the kids."

The all-volunteer Christiana Fire Company, which serves Christiana Borough, Atglen Borough and Sadsbury Township, is located at 214 S. Bridge St., Christiana. For more information or to register for the Kids' Fire Experience, visit http://www.christianafire.com or http://www.facebook.com/christianafirecompany. Volunteers are also needed to help run the event, and they can also register at the aforementioned Facebook page and website.