The Mason City Fire Department's safety open house returned on Sunday after being put on hold for a year due to the remodeling of the fire station.

"It's fantastic to see this many people come together," said Fire Chief Erik Bullinger as throngs of parents and children filled the area behind the station.

"The most important part of our job is to keep people safe and to educate others, so this whole event is really geared towards educating all age groups about fire safety, EMS, everything you can think of," he said.

In addition to how to stay safe during a fire, visitors learned about railroad, pedestrian and bicycle safety.

This year's event featured a rope rescue demonstration on its training tower, in which a firefighter pretending to be a window washer who fainted on the job was "sa

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