'Touch A Truck' returns Oct. 8

LOMBARD, Illinois— Climb on board, honk a horn and explore the collection of trucks and equipment at Lombard's annual “Touch A Truck” in October.

Inquisitive folks of all ages have an opportunity to get a close-up view of the inside of fire trucks, police cars and an assortment of trucks and vehicles on Saturday, October 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the northwest corner of Lombard Yorktown Center on the Highland Avenue side of the mall near Carson Pirie Scott.

The Lombard Firefighter's Union Local 3009, the Lombard Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 270 and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Counsel 89, in cooperation with the Village of Lombard, is celebrating Fire Prevention Week with a “Touch A Truck event”. Fire prevention activities from the Lombard Firefighter's Union include demonstrations on repelling, vehicle extrication and additional safety presentations. The Loyola Lifestar helicopter is scheduled to land at 11 a.m. in the adjacent parking lot with liftoff of the medevac helicopter at 12:30 p.m.

Village fire, police and public works equipment will be present to view along with other vehicles from the Illinois Tollway Authority, DuPage Public Safety Communications (DuComm) and a variety of trucks and equipment from the public sector.

Added to this year's lineup of vehicles is an armored military Humvee, courtesy of the Army National Guard from Aurora and representatives from Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital will be on-hand to offer information on bicycle helmet safety.

The 2011 “Touch A Truck” organizer is Lombard Firefighter/Paramedic Mark Laffrey. He explains the total number of donated hours the 60 volunteers (including Laffrey) will spend to support this event is in the hundreds but well worth it.

“We decided as a union to coordinate this event because it allows kids and their parents a chance to ask questions, watch demonstrations and climb aboard vehicles to get a close-up view of the inside of safety equipment, ” said Laffrey. “Economic times dictate the limited funds to support this event but through the volunteers and generosity of the service union employees of the Village of Lombard and other numerous agencies that have graciously loaned their equipment for use, makes it all possible,” adds Laffrey.

Laffrey believes that the “Touch A Truck” event gives the public an opportunity to see what emergency and Public Works personnel do in their community by getting close to the action. “It's a great educational opportunity and we find it to be as much fun to show what our job is as it is for the people who attend the event,” concludes Laffrey.

“Touch A Truck” is free to attend. Donations collected at the event will go to the Lombard Junior Woman's Club TLC Camp for kids with cancer and the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance (IFSA) “Camp I Am Me”, a camp that supports children with significant burn injuries and promotes burn prevention.

To learn more about the “Touch A Truck” event or to volunteer, contact Laffrey at (630) 620-5734.