Filling the pantry - News - The Times-News - Burlington, NC - Burlington Times News

Filling the pantry - News - The Times-News - Burlington, NC - Burlington Times News

By Isaac Groves / Times-News

Residents around Lake Mackintosh can look forward to seeing a lot of little firefighters this Halloween.

Standing behind the trucks in the new Burlington Fire Station 6, Firefighter Lindsay Boger gave a room full of kids a demonstration on how to put on turnout gear first stepping into the boots attached to the legs of the huge pants and suspenders – practically mesmerizing.

“All right, what’s next?” she asked.

“The pants,” they called back.

The kids, and their parents from nearby Mackintosh on the Lake and Avalon at Mackintosh, were touring the station Sunday and bringing about 600 pounds of food in what organizer Monica Hennessy called “Fill the Pantry.”

Samantha Rodriguez, 3, came already wearing a little pink fire helmet and her cousin Daniel, 4 (almost) truck in hand already made his Halloween plans, said his mother Cheryl Rodriguez. Daniel had been asking to see a firehouse again since the last one he visited in New York where they used to live.

“So when they did this private tour for the residents, I said. ‘We are going to go then,’” Cheryl Rodriguez said.

Visitors got to see the three-bay station housing engine 6, truck 2 and the battalion chief’s vehicle 2, its nine small but private dormitory rooms, training area and weight room and office. People were impressed with the substantial kitchen with three refrigerators, big gas stove and wide stainless steel countertops. The Carolina Panthers game was on a big flat screen sitting in front of a semi-circle of seven recliners, one for each firefighter per shift.

“This one’s been a long time coming,” said Capt. Kent James who has seen a lot of growth in his 25 years with the city. “Expansion has really been big in the west.”

The station, next to Highland Elementary School on Bonnar Bridge Parkway south of Interstate 40/85 in easy reach of subdivisions like Mackintosh on the Lake and Avalon at Macintosh and University Commons, officially opened for service in late September.

Reporter Isaac Groves can be reached at igroves@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3045. Follow him on Twitter at @tnigroves.