Tallahassee Fire Department brings water day fun to kids in the community

The Tallahassee Fire Department is beating the heat on and off duty.

Firefighters, captains, lieutenants and chiefs, alongside their law enforcement counterparts with the Tallahassee Police Department, spent Friday afternoon playing with kids at LeVerne Payne Community Center for a TFD-sponsored water day.

A shiny, red fire engine sprayed a continuous supply of water for the children to enjoy. Shrieks of laughter filled the air as kids sprinted in and out from underneath the refreshing drops, splashed and slid in puddles and started water balloon wars.

TFD has been providing water day fun to the children in the capital city community for the last seven years, TFD Fire Chief Gene Sanders said. The department usually hosts two water day events each year.

"The importance of community engagement is to engage the youth and all the citizens of Tallahassee in a non-emergency setting so that in those times that you have a catastrophic event or an emergency, there's some familiarity with the department that's responding to you," Sanders said.

TFD and TPD spent three hours entertaining the kids and feeding them summertime classics — hamburgers, hotdogs and snow cones.

"The men and women of the Tallahassee Fire Department are fully committed to serving this community and being engaged with this community," Sanders said. "They work hard and they bring everything they have to serve this community day in and day out."

Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.