By LAURA ROBISON
The Progress
The second annual Moapa Valley Heroes Night was held on Monday evening, April 24, at the Logandale Sports Complex. Community residents showed up in droves to have some good old-fashioned family fun and support a worthy cause.
The event was a fundraiser for the Firefighter Explorer Program, which is for high school juniors and seniors interested in a career as firefighters or EMTs.
“The Explorers meet once a month to train and be exposed to what it’s like to be a firefighter or EMT,” explained Moapa Valley Fire District (MVFD) Chief Stephen Neel. “By the time they graduate, they will know if that’s the career path they want to go or not. If they want to continue down that career path, we will bring them on as a volunteer and continue to train them and they can continue to run calls and serve our community.”
The heroes had plenty of things for attendees to do with stations set up for demonstrations and activities to try.
One station had some young fire explorers receiving fire hats. Youngsters could even try on some real firefighter gear.
Another station had a demo structure where kids could ‘put out the fire’ with water from a fire hose. Yet another station had kids using a battering ram to force open a door. There were fire trucks, police cars, motorcycle cops, a Mercy Air helicopter and even a SWAT vehicle from the Mesquite Police Department. All were available to climb into, ask questions about and have great photo opportunities. There was even a visit from McGruff the Crime Dog making sure everyone was safe.
A brief K-9 demonstration was held where the police dogs showed off their stuff.
Young ones kept busy with the bounce houses. A dunk tank was a favorite as officers and firefighters continually got dunked and soaked. CCSD Officer Jimmy Lescinsky was a great sport as he fell in the water over and over again while a long line of ball-throwers hit the target.
”It’s all in good fun and the kids are great,” Lescinsky said.
Miller Marshall-9, Joshua Hibbetts-9, and Eric Runyan-11 all had successful shots at dunking Lescinsky, and all three said, “It felt good to do that.”
The event’s big attraction was a number of expo softball games. First the fire district team played a Moapa Valley High School (MVHS) co-ed team consisting of varsity softball and JV baseball players. The Fire team won that game, 15-7.
Next up was Fire against Police, with a twist. In this contest, members of the audience could donate money, then choose from a number of props for a specific player to wear for the entire game. Hilarity ensued as Brandon Prisbrey was tasked to hold a baby doll, Justin Williams wore bunny ears, John Zerkle stylishly put on flippers and a snorkle, Zach Davis shined in his pink tutu, Larry Staley was grumpy in his Grinch costume and Kris Hibbetts roared in to home plate wearing a blow-up dinosaur outfit.
The police won that game, 13-5 as well as the final game against the MVHS co-ed team, 14-4.
In some friendly rival banter, Firefighter Zerkle said, “You know what the police and fire have in common? We all tested for Fire.”
And Police Officer Will Dransfield responded, “Our workday goes faster when you’re doing something”
A dinner plate was served for a $5 donation and consisted of a hamburger or hot dog, chips and a drink. Ice cream and popcorn were also available for a donation. All the food was prepared and served by volunteers from local police and firefighters and their families.
Raffle tickets were sold to help with funding of the Explorer Program. Prizes included gift certificates and swag from many local businesses and individuals, as well as monetary donations that helped with food. The event could not have been possible without support, donations and the many volunteers who worked tirelessly to make everything happen.
The Ward family from Logandale attended the event and matriarch Shauna said, “We wanted to support the community and first responders and I didn’t have to cook dinner tonight.”
Kymber Rowley and her family were also at the ballfields. She said, “My dad is a TAC officer so I wanted to come and support all the firefighters and police and watch the softball game.”
“We had around 500 people show up and the event was a great success,” said Chief Neel. “It was great to see the community come together to support our local heroes. Everyone had a great time. We raised a little over $5,000 which will all go towards our Explorer program. Big thanks to all our sponsors and Brooke’s Good Deeds for donating the food for the event.”
For more information on the Fire Explorer Program, call 702-817-3179.
