Karen S. Kim
NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- As the tall brown garage door of Glendale Fire
Station 25 creaked slowly upward Friday morning to reveal a shiny, yellow
fire engine and a uniformed Capt. Harold Scoggins, a chorus of "wows" and
"whoas" erupted from the crowd.
The voices belonged to 36 kindergarteners of St. Mary's Richard
Tusenkian Preschool who were eagerly waiting for their field trip on fire
safety to begin.
It's a field trip the school offers every year, but the
kindergarteners came bearing gifts this year. The class presented
Scoggins with a check for $1,800 -- money the school raised for the New
York Fire Department Widows and Orphans Fund.
"We brought the money to help the people in New York because there's a
lot of firefighters that died," said 5-year-old Armen Shabanian, adding
that he hopes to be a firefighter when he's older.
Scoggins accepted the money from the school, explaining to the kids
that the widows and orphans of 343 firefighters killed on Sept. 11 would
be grateful.
"It's absolutely incredible with the amount of money that has been
raised in the city through kids and adults," Scoggins said.
The real attraction of the field trip began after the money was
exchanged. Firefighters showed a fire safety video and led the
kindergarteners on a tour of the station and a fire engine.
"I want to see the fire pole," said Shabanian, who said he had wanted
to wear his firefighter costume Friday but wore his school uniform
instead. "That's where the firefighters slide down."
