A fire station open day was a huge hit at the weekend with a large number of parents and children turning out to join in the fun.

The Hitchin Fire Station Open Day – held at their Newtons Way home on Saturday – saw visitors enthralled by teddy bears being fired into the air from an aerial ladder platform!

There were also the usual favourites such as squirting water from a hose, demonstrating cutting equipment, allowing youngsters to don some of kit worn by fire – as well as demonstrations of chip pan fires and otheightersr activities to raise awareness of fire safety.

Watch commander Mark ‘Budge’ Burgess told the Comet: “It was really great to see so many people from Hitchin turn out to celebrate the station’s open day.

“There was a constant flow of people all day, there must have been around 800 people who turned up across the whole event.

“The kids loved the teddy bears being fired into the air – we had around 50 in total!

“We also managed to raise around £400 for our two chosen charities – Motor Neurone Disease Association and the Firefighters Charity which helps sick and injured firefighters and their families.

“It was also important that we passed on lots of fire safety advice through our demonstrations.

“A big thank you to everyone.”