Crowds flocked to see Wyre Forest Fire Station and all its resources for the first time since opening three years ago.
The first open day at the Stourport Road station, which serves Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley as well as the surrounding areas, proved to be a success on a hot Saturday.
The Wyre Forest hub, made up of wholetime and on-call firefighters, boasts some of the best training facilities available which include a hot fire house, a steel-framed tower and a road traffic collision area with dual carriageway section.
It is also home to water first responders, high volume pumps for incidents nationwide, an off-road firefighting vehicle, a drone and a command support unit.
The attractions included fire engine rides, demos and a drone capability display.
Wyre Forest Watch Commander Simon Jelfs said: “The day was extremely well attended by members of the public with a queue down the road before the doors were opened at 11am.
“With support from members of the Prevention and Protection services, visitors were provided with fire safety advice and a chance to go through our smoke tent to see first-hand the challenges of exiting a smoke-filled house.
“With the weather on our side, food and drinks were provided by external caterers with the ice cream van proving very popular.
“West Mercia Police and West Midlands Ambulance Service’s HART team also proved a popular attraction for the crowds with both providing some excellent safety advice and a chance to look around their vehicles and equipment.
“Special thanks to the Fire Cadets who facilitated with the assistance of the fire engine rides for the public which was easily the biggest attraction for our guests.
“Money raised will be going to The Fire Fighters Charity and the final sum is still being tallied.
“I would like to personally thank all the crews at Wyre Forest Fire Station for all their hard work facilitating the open day, both assisting with the planning and physically attending to support on the day.
“Special mention to the on-call staff at Wyre Forest who completed a road traffic collision demonstration in nearly 30C heat, showing the crowds a step-by-step scenario of extricating a casualty from a vehicle that had been involved in an RTC.”