KIDS in the Wee County got the opportunity to live like a firefighter for a day as Alloa Fire Station held its annual open day.

Staff threw their doors open to the community on Saturday, with hundreds of people attending for a fun family day out.

Kids got to experience what it was like as a firefighter through tours of the station and fire appliances and got to dress up as some of Scotland’s bravest responders.

Rachel Rogers, station commander, was part of the team hosting the event and was thrilled with the response.

She said: “We’ve had a great turnout. We were delighted to see people were keen to get in and they were queuing up before we opened.

“It’s just really good to welcome the community into the station and let them see the work we do.

“We’ve got the attendance of quite a few of our partner agencies and it’s a good opportunity for the public to see them too.

“We’ve got people here from our neighbouring stations like the high reach engine which has come from Dunfermline.

“A lot of the kids and some of the parents have been really excited and wanting to see. Every year, we try to bring something different.”

Key attractions included the Dunfermline high-reach appliance, which demonstrated the capabilities of their crane in putting out fires in tall buildings.

This proved a hit with kids, but queues were piling out the door to get on board the various emergency service vehicles in attendance.

The open day was also attended by various partner organisations including the Ochils Mountain Rescue Service, Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, Trossachs Search and Rescue, Stirling water rescue and Reset 999.

Rachel added: “We’ve got stalls inside with tombola, raffle, face painting and word searches but the main attraction for the kids is getting on the fire engine.

“They get to sit in the cabs and see what it’s like to be a firefighter by seeing how heavy some of the equipment is like the helmets.

“Hopefully, they’ll get an opportunity to engage and take all of this home with them.”

Alloa Fire Station was also holding a recruitment drive for on-call firefighters to help man a retained appliance at the station.

“We also have our on-call appliance,” Rachel continued. “This station has one and we’re looking for anyone in the community who might be available during the day time hours.

“We’re looking to recruit people to work on the on-call appliance who have good availability between 9-5.”

Contacted Alloa Fire Station on 01259 724112 for more info on on-call firefighting.