Fired up

Ellen McCarty

NEWPORT BEACH -- Firefighters lit a model house on fire Sunday to

demonstrate extreme heat and rapidly spreading flames, but the SWAT

team’s rappelling adventure from a four-story tower was decidedly the

“hottest” event for kids at Public Safety Day at the Newport Center Fire

Station and Police Headquarters on Santa Barbara Drive.

About 300 kids hooked into a harness clipped to a rope, and -- anchored

to police officers who monitored their fall -- jumped out second- and

third-story windows, Newport Beach Police Sgt. John Klein said.

“Rappelling is exciting to show the kids,” said Klein, who showed his own

5-year-old son the ropes earlier in the day. “We rappel into a building

when there’s a barricaded suspect, a hostage situation or to serve an

arrest warrant, because they don’t expect us to come from above.”

It was Tyler Frink’s second time rappelling from the tower. Last year,

the 4-year-old jumped from the second-story window, and “liked it.”

His cousin, 5-year-old Megan Mass, waited in line for her first rappel

and said she was a little scared.

Officers gave the pair high-fives as they entered the tower. Soon their

little legs dangled over the window ledge and, one by one, they slid down

to the ground, Tyler faster than Megan, who lingered mid-fall to smile

widely at the crowd.

“I was high,” she said, beaming after landing.

Tyler was quiet, rushing over to his mom as soon as he was off the hook.

“You know he’s going to want all this stuff for Christmas,” Officer Steve

Koudelka said to the family, who have come to the event for the last four

years.

“The kids really develop an appreciation for the police and fire

departments,” said Tyler’s mom, Lisa Frink.

They also gain safety skills, Robert Morris said, as his son practiced

putting out a small fire with an extinguisher.

“When the water comes out, it’s pretty cold when you hold it,” Nicholas

Morris, 8, said to his dad, after spraying the cloudy moisture at the

flames.

“For the kids, it’s fun,” Roberts said, “and most importantly, they’ll

know what to do when a fire starts.”