Bringing the community and first responders together
3 Video Views·Oct 26, 2026
Well, the Bucks may not be at home today, but Raymond James Stadium
was certainly full of life and fun this morning.
Local first responders and families took to the field
for the fourth annual First Responders Family Fun Day.
FOX 13's Heather Healy shows us how a day of fun helps
to build trust between kids and those who keep everyone safe.
It's not every day kids get to climb inside a fire truck
or get an up-close look at what a first responder does every day.
You just pull whichever way you want to go,
and the whole vehicle turns that way.
But today at Raymond James Stadium,
they can do just that to see them interact and ask questions
and bring awareness towards how amazing the Tampa Bay community
is and our first responders. It's just really fun and it's amazing.
It's the fourth annual First Responders Family Fun Day,
bringing different first responder departments together
with the community they serve. We want everybody to come out
and interact with the first responders within the community.
Hillsborough County Fire,
Hillsborough County Sheriff, Tampa Police Department.
and just have a fantastic fun day.
You got it!
From a firefighter obstacle course,
bounce houses, a pumpkin patch, even a chopper,
there's something for everyone.
We are very excited to be here and
have a chance to talk to all the kids
and demonstrate kind of what we do and explain to them
all the capabilities of our helicopter
and the different missions that we fly.
But beyond the fun, the goal is to build connections between families
and first responders outside of an emergency.
Most of the time when we meet people for the first time,
it's at some of their worst times.
We wanted them to have an environment where they could meet us,
interact, enjoy, and see that, hey, okay, while we're in uniform,
we're this, we're still just normal people.
And we're super nice and there's nothing to be afraid of.
The hope is that the next time these kids see a first responder,
they won't see someone to be afraid of,
but a familiar face they can trust.
They get so excited. They see us on the street
when we're running 911 calls,
and a lot of times we don't have time to stop and engage with them.
So this gives us an opportunity to really engage with them
and just show them all of our toys.
In Tampa, Heather Healy, Fox 13 News.