WOODBURY — Santa leaves his reindeer behind and hops on a big red fire truck for the holiday season. 

Most people love the holiday season, the food, the music, and best of all, the holiday cheer. Most local fire departments bring that all to your front door. The people that serve the community all year round also bring joy and cheer in every town. 

Firefighters work day and night to see smiles on neighbors and friends’ faces. Mike Blood, a past captain in Oxford and a lieutenant in Seymour, enjoys being active in these events.

”The holidays are about joy and being together, and nothing makes us as firefighters happier than seeing families celebrate safely with smiles all around,” Blood said. 

Bethlehem, a department that has 27 active members, does a number of events during the holiday season. Nonnewaug custodian Clayton Hilpertshauser, a member of Bethlehem’s fire police, says the department is heavily involved.

“One of the things we do is the Christmas festival and we sell fried dough. We also do a Santa ride,” said Hilpertshauser, who has been an active member for the past 39 years. ”Santa comes on a fire truck and brings presents for the kids on Dec. 14.”

Oxford, one of Nonnewaug’s sending towns, has its fire departments involved in a number of events.

“We work with the town to do the Christmas tree lighting and Popcorn Ball Sunday,” Oxford Chief Scott Pelletier said. “Popcorn Ball Sunday is loved throughout our town by the kids and adults. Everyone finds joy during the holiday season seeing Santa on a firetruck.”

Pelletier says these events contribute to the community. 

”Oxford Fire during the holiday season makes sure the kids are happy, because when the kids are happy, the parents are happy,” Pelletier said. “As firefighters, we love seeing the smiles on kids’ and adult’s faces when they see the tree lighting or Santa. Our events don’t just bring joy to the people; it brings us joy, too.”

Beacon Falls is another surrounding fire department that does many events in the community. Kyle Brennan, the special events committee chairman and Beacon Hose’s publicist who also teaches at Nonnewaug, says the department has an event happening every weekend.

“What don’t we do for the holidays?” Brennan said. ”We do a Christmas tree sale, we do a Christmas parade in town, we have a drive-through Santa event though town for the kids, [and] we do Popcorn Ball Sunday.”

Beacon Falls residents love their Popcorn Ball Sunday, which was a new holiday tradition added to the fun town events. Brennan said it’s become the town’s most popular Christmas event.

”We never did it before COVID, and it was the best way to safely distance away from people,” Brennan said. “That seems to be the event we get the most questions about, like, hey, when’s this happening? When are you going to be on my street?”

People love fun events, and fun events become tradition.

”Things become a tradition, and people like to enjoy what they’ve come to expect,” Brennan said.

These firefighters work day and night, 24/7 to protect the community our student body lives in, and these firefighters are overjoyed about doing even more during the holiday season. 

“The holidays are about making memories,” Blood said, “and we are more than happy to help create moments the community will cherish forever.”