Outside of the North Royalton Fire Department families and children gathered to meet police dogs and horses, pose for pictures with Cleveland Browns’ mascot Chumps and tour the inside of firetrucks.
Meanwhile inside the station, organizations ranging from the North Royalton Family YMCA to the Ohio Department of Transportation-District 12 educated families about their services from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 16.
Dating back to the ‘90s, the fire department annually opens its doors to about 500 guests to educate them about safety, preparing them to tackle safety concerns. The event also occurs before Emergency Medical Service Week, which is May 17-23, North Royalton fire chief Robert Chegan Jr. noted.
“We’re celebrating our guys and we’re also able to give safety messages with all of our partners,” he said.
Chegan explained that people often don’t know how much training firefighters undergo to be ready to handle situations like natural disasters or a pandemic, so the fair offers attendees a behind-the-scenes look.
“In the background, there’s a lot of training to get to where we’re at,” he said. “There’s a lot of preparedness, and no matter what the call comes in for, we’re ready for it.”
Hoping to gain knowledge about safety precautions from the event, Regina Toriskie, daughter Chloe Scoular and granddaughter Maisie Scuolar, Torsikie’s granddaughter and Chloe Scoular attended the fair. Between visiting the various booths, Maisie enjoyed meeting Duke Blue from the Cleveland MetroParks Mounted Unit.
“I think it’s great for her to experience something new and see the safety part of everything,” Scoular said
Chegan also shared that the organizations in attendance further echoed the message of preparedness. For example, the Cleveland Water Department was one of the 18 groups in attendance. When North Royalton experienced a power outage in 2003, it had also affected the City’s water, which demonstrated how dangers can escalate.
“We had no water, no hydrants, so we’re prepared for something like that, because for the state, we have a county area, state emergency plan,” he said.
To teach attendees about water safety, the Cleveland Water Department had trivia questions for them to answer, “because everybody in the community needs to know where Cleveland water comes from,” said Wanda Brown, of the Cleveland Water Dept.
MetroHealth Loving Paws therapy dogs, Maverick and Denver, were also present, teaching children how to encounter dogs they’re not familiar with and to show that it’s possible to train animals how to behave properly, according to MetroHealth Loving Paws Handler Margie Wunderle.
William Michaels, Denver’s handler, explained that the English Golden Retriever became a national crisis response canine last summer, meaning the pup is on call for any school shootings or natural disasters, offering comfort and support to victims.
Zodiac, a canine from Crisis Canine Corps, and his handler, President and CEO Shirley Graziano, are also accustomed to addressing trauma, having visited Valley Forge High School seven days after the death of an 18-year-old student on April 20.
Crisis Canine Corps’ team and its dogs also offered support to the employees at the Strongsville Costco following a shooting incident on April 25.
“We’re a trauma team, a crisis team, so we respond. Our dogs are next level, beyond therapy and they’re able to be with people that are processing traumas which they just experienced, whether they’re angry, or whether they’re sad or they cry in their head,” Graziano said.
University Hospitals MedEvac helicopter was unable to attend the event.
These interactive elements of the Safety Fair attracted many residents, like Matthew Huml and his sons, Charlie and Luke, who also stopped by because of their love of trucks.
“We live in North Royalton, and we wave to the firemen every time we drive by, so any chance we get an opportunity to come in, we love to walk around and see the trucks and see the guys,” Matthew Huml said.

By ADRIANA GASIEWSKI
Contributing Writer