Each ‘flat’ of a Jack-o-lantern was followed by cheers from the crowd in a fun event to raise money for local charities. Chris Ovington, with Vernon Fire Rescue Services, said that for a donation, people could throw a pumpkin from the tube tower with the money raised going to the firefighter’s charity before going to the local team to be determined later. “Basically, we’re just asking people to come down and give a donation if they can go up the pipe tower and drop the pumpkin from three or four stories and watch it go down,” Ovington said, adding that firefighters hope to make the pumpkin drop an annual event. “We want the money to stay local – maybe in Kids Sport or the hospice, those are the charities we give to from the benevolent society,” Ovington said. Ovington said firefighters “donate quite a bit of money to the burns fund…as well as muscular dystrophy. There are a number of (charities)”.
