GROVES — The world of first responders was open to all as kids used a fire hose, climbed into a police car and got a ride on a stretcher into an ambulance during Groves Fire Department’s Open House on Wednesday.

Bryson Matney, 8, used a fire hose with the assistance of a firefighter, spraying the stream out onto a nearby side street. His dad, Kenneth Matney, said he liked that the event brought the community out to see some of what first responders do.

Deena Coronado, 5, was one of the kids who had a chance to sit inside a patrol car and talk into the speaker. Her mom, Valerie Coronado, said the family attends the event yearly.

One of the littlest “firefighters,” Julian Guthrie, 2, garnered attention from many around him.

“He wants to be a firefighter,” his mother Ashley Guthrie said while standing next to the boy’s dad, volunteer firefighter Chris Guthrie. “Everybody asks about his firefighter costume but that’s what he wakes up and puts on in the morning.”

The little firefighter showed some concern as he watched a demonstration where firefighters lit a replica of a car on fire then doused the flames.

Visitors to the fire station also had a chance to see firefighters rappel from a ladder truck — and one of the men did so upside down to the excitement of the crowd.

There were also displays of equipment and a chance to try on firefighter bunker gear, along with treats and popcorn, drink or snow cone.

The event was held in conjunction with National Fire Prevention Week, which is Oct. 7 through Oct. 13.