Vernon firefighters will be smashing pumpkins for charities at the downtown fire station on 30th Street Saturday, Nov. 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Liam Verster/Vernon Matters Staff)

By Liam Verster

Supporting Local Charities

Firefighters smashing pumpkins for good cause

Nov 1, 2023 | 1:00 PM

Vernon Fire Rescue Services will be hosting its second annual pumpkin drop for charity.

On Saturday, Nov. 4, the fire department will be smashing pumpkins in the parking lot of the downtown station on 30th Street.

Ben Suranko, a VFRS member, told Vernon Matters the pumpkin drop will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will see pumpkins dropped from the hose tower.

“We have a little door that goes outside, so we’re going to let the kids go up — they have to be [at least five years old] — but they go up to the top and drop the pumpkin on the target,” Suranko said, adding firefighters will be escorting the kids up and down the tower.

People can bring their own jack-o-lanterns from Halloween, but Suranko added there will be some on hand for people to drop, as well as some very large ones that will be dropped from a ladder truck.

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“We get a couple really big pumpkins from some of the local pumpkin patches like Davison’s and O’Keefe, and we take it up our ladder truck, and our ladder truck goes up 107 feet, and we drop it from there,” Suranko told Vernon Matters.

“So the big, big splats will happen as well.”

Click here to see a video from Vernon Firefighters Local 1517’s Facebook page.

Though a mess will be made from the smashed gourds, there won’t be any waste.

“All the guts and everything go back into a compost that goes to local farmers for feed,” Suranko explained.

In addition to smashing pumpkins, the event will support local causes.

“This is going to go towards our Vernon Firefighters Charitable Society. We’re a recognized charitable society in B.C.,” Suranko said.

“So all the money we raise goes back into our community and to our charitable efforts. The main charity that we usually contribute to is the B.C. Burn Fund, which goes directly to people who are affected by fires, whether that’s physically or property, to assist with them. Then as well as the Hospice Society in Vernon, and multiple other local events, it can go to anybody we feel deserves it or other charities as well.”

The event, which VFRS is trying to make an annual tradition, is by donation, and Suranko said the previous year’s event raised over $1,200.

“Last year we were kind of blown away with the money people did donate, so we’re hoping to go over that $2,000 mark this year,” Suranko told Vernon Matters, adding the main goal is to make sure the kids and families have fun.