Why a Christmas tradition means so much to North River firefighters

Dean Smith remembers the look on the little girl's face 27 years ago when firefighters pulled up to a store in New Dominion, P.E.I., in their decorated fire truck with Santa Claus on board.

"She was probably three or four years old and she was just vibrating when we pulled up with the fire truck," said Smith, deputy chief of the North River Fire Department.

"So right from then I think I was I was hooked."

The department's Santa Tour has been going strong ever since. On Saturday, there will be stops at 10 locations, beginning at 2:30 p.m. at the Cornwall Seniors Complex on MacArthur Drive, and ending at 7:30 p.m. at the Brackley Community Centre.

Smith said the firefighters look forward to the event every year.

"In the firefighting world we see people at their worst times and they see us at their worst times. So I think the firefighters really like to do this for that reason. We show up, everybody's happy and they're glad to see us," he said.

"They're glad to see us at other times but for different reasons. There's a lot of joy to it. And sometimes we're not always experiencing joy when we show up to see people."

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