Santa plans special visits

In his mad rush to get ready for his big night on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus has been busy deciding which little boys and girls have been nice and which have been naughty. His famous red suit has been pulled out of last year’s dry cleaning plastic and he’s been keeping track of his elves at the North Pole, filling orders of toys for good little boys and girls all over the world.

But with all of the hustle and bustle of December, Santa has cleared his schedule, and with a little Christmas magic, gets to ride with the firefighters of Spokane Fire District 9 through Monday.

“It’s our give-back to the community,” said Rod Ekholm, the volunteer station captain at Station 92.

Ekholm, a second-generation volunteer firefighter, has been making this trip for a number of years and said that the fire house has been teaming up with Santa for so long that no one seems to remember when the partnership started. He said their best estimate is maybe 40 years ago.

He said that the district covers 122 square miles in Mead and north of Spokane. The area is so big, the fire stations – 91, 92, 93, 95, 97 and 98 – split Santa duties in order to make sure that all the children in the district get a chance to meet the jolly old elf.

Santa’s helper, Greg Anderson, the station captain, has been making the trip with Santa for 27 years.

“It’s been difficult to keep it up because the district grows every year,” he said. He and the others were excited to be making the trip again.

Each station has its own transport for Santa.

The firefighters of Station 92 escort Santa through the neighborhoods in a 1941 Ford that was once owned by the Kaiser-Mead plant and was donated to the fire district in the late 1960s.

The truck has been refitted with a tin roof and bedecked in garlands, twinkle lights, shiny red ornaments and three light-up reindeer.

Santa holds court from an ancient thronelike chair, which seems to be a mystery to many of the firefighters, since no one knows where the station found it.

Since many of the firefighters in the district are volunteers with day jobs and families of their own, sometimes it can be hard to gather the volunteers together to chaperone Santa.

But the trip through the neighborhood is worth it to them.

“It’s fun,” said Shayne Foster, a resident firefighter at the station. “Usually when you see the public it’s a bad thing.”

On a night last week, Santa, his firefighter companions and a few of their relatives were welcomed heartily.

“It’s pretty much a family thing,” Ekholm said. “It’s our give-back to the community.”

Santa is accompanied by two firetrucks just in case there is an emergency the volunteers must respond to.

“We can’t all be out on the Santa truck,” Ekholm said.

The three vehicles turn on their flashing red and white lights and even turn on their sirens to announce Santa’s arrival.

Santa stops for all the children who come out to see him. They get to sit in his lap, tell him what they want for Christmas and they get a candy cane.

The neighbors wave from their windows, cars honk, and some parents and children will run to catch up with Santa.

Sleepy-eyed children in their pajamas come out to see him. Some Santa fans run to greet him in such a hurry that they forget their shoes. Some still have wet hair from jumping out of the tub to see him.

Christa Hanson, a resident along Santa’s route, said that her children are usually in the bath when Santa comes.

“They love this,” she said of her children, Michael, 6, and Lily, 8. She added that it took the kids about 30 seconds to get dressed and out the door when they heard Santa coming.

Other neighbors get excited when they see Santa coming since they grew up in the neighborhood and remember when they sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas.

Chrisi Garcia said she has been in the neighborhood since she was 16.

Today, she’s all grown up with kids of her own, Gabriella, seven months, and Ariana, 3.

“Now my kids get to see it,” she said.

Michelle Wolf, another second-generation volunteer firefighter, said that one year, a grandma flagged down Santa’s caravan a half a block before they reached her 3-year-old granddaughter.

The grandma said that her granddaughter was going to give Santa her pacifier, and she wanted him to take it. They had been working with the tot, trying to wean her off of it and decided that giving it to Santa was a good idea.

The little girl told him that she wanted him to give it to another baby that needed it.

Wolf said that Santa took it.

“Santa did what Santa needed to do with her binky,” Wolf said.

Some of the kids cried a little, but Santa shrugged it off, telling them that he’ll come back next year.

Others were more excited, such as 4-year-old Elizabeth, who jumped up and down when she saw Santa. She told him that she wanted a princess phone.

“She could sit there forever,” her mother said.

Wolf said that she gets calls from her neighbors to find out when Santa will make his trip through the neighborhood. The fire station takes Santa out for about two hours each trip, and they try to wrap it up early, since most kids are in bed by 8:30 p.m. or so.

The volunteers also collect donations to the Mead Food Bank. They accept nonperishable food items, but don’t like to make a big deal out of it, since they really make this trip for the children and families of the neighborhood.

“We’re out here for the kids,” she said.