It’s hard to find a Crawford County youngster who hasn’t made at least one trip through the Crawford County Firemen’s Association Fire Safety House — and association members want to keep it that way.

In order for that to happen, however, the association, which is comprised of all the county’s paid and volunteer fire companies, needs some help.

This is a house that travels. In fact, it’s a trailer — one that’s designed to give kids a bit of first-hand experience in what to do when there’s smoke in the house. If a door is hot, for example, the last thing you want to do is open it.

Staffed by firefighters, the house spends a lot of time on the road. Fire Prevention Week in October is a particularly busy time — and ditto for the summer months, when it makes the rounds of countless community fairs and gatherings.

While the house itself is in pretty good shape, “the truck we pull it with is another story,” association member Bill Rosenberger said.

For a 1976 model, the Ford truck they’ve been using is doing a rather amazing job, according to Rosenberger. For starters, it still runs. Getting it through next year’s inspection, however, is going to be tough. To put it bluntly, the long-time veteran of Crawford County winters is rusting out big-time.

It takes a fairly good-sized pickup truck to pull the trailer, Rosenberger explained, noting that a model in the half-ton range should be able to do the job quite nicely. Unfortunately, the budgets of the county’s fire companies are already stretched thin.

“It’s a 1976,” Rosenberger said. “We were hoping there might be someone around who might have one that’s a little bit newer.”

Anyone interested in donating a half-ton (or larger) pickup to the association or offering a special deal should call Rosenberger at 724-0332 or e-mail brosenberger@fn-ins.com

YOU CAN HELP

The Crawford County Firemen’s Association needs a new truck to pull its Fire Safety House to various events across the county where it is used to teach children what to do in the event of a home fire. Anyone interested in donating a half-ton (or larger) pickup to the association or offering a special deal should call association member Bill Rosenberger at 724-0332 or e-mail brosenberger@fn-ins.com