A Look Inside a Firehouse Courtesy of Eastside Fire and Rescue

Eastside Fire and Rescue opened up eight of its firehouses on Saturday, Oct. 15 in an effort to welcome the public in, show them how a fire station works, how firemen and women live, and to pass along fire safety and disaster preparedness information.

I visited on the Issaquah-Pine Lake Road and was surprised to see many of the comforts of a regular home. There was a good-sized kitchen with room to cook and eat, an entertainment room with a flat screen TV, DVD player and Xbox, men’s and women’s bathroom and shower facilities, a place to do laundry and dorm-like sleeping quarters.

“It’s just like a house would be,” Lieutenant Dean deAlteriis said.

Unlike a regular home there’s also a room for maintaining the firefighter’s vital breathing apparatuses, an array of exercise equipment so the firefighters can stay in shape, a row of lockers stuffed with neatly organized firefighting gear, and two aid cars and a fire engine in the garage.

The station is manned by three firefighters every day, 24 hours a day. These three-man teams work three 24-hour shifts, then take the next six days off as two more teams take over for three days a piece.

Enjoy the pictures, and submit your own if you happened to stop by any of the open houses. And in case you’re wondering, no, there wasn’t a pole for the firefighters to slide down when the fire bells ring, and there wasn’t a Dalmatian sitting in the cab of the fire engine.