Seattle Fire Department Station 18 celebrated its 100th anniversary on Sept. 19 with an open house and the Ballard community came to meet their fire fighters and equipment up close.

Fire Fighter James Rowe helped greet parents who brought their children to the event.

"It's great," Rowe said. "It is what we are here for. We don't get to do it very often. It's a good opportunity to show people what we do and talk about the Seattle Fire Department."

Three-year-old Mina Dunn climbed into the driver's seat of a fire truck with the help of her parents and seemed to enjoy playing with the steering wheel.

"We just moved here a month ago (from New York City) and wanted to take our daughter to the fire department," said Craig Dunn.

Coleman Harris, 3, likes to read his Curious George book about a fire truck. He used his hands to explore equipment on a 1913 Seagrave brought to the event by Ballard's very own Last Resort Fire Department.

Later, Harris tried climbing one of three poles fire fighters use to slide down from their living quarters on the second floor.

Fire Fighter Mark Mandella said the open house was an chance for people in the neighborhood to come by for a visit. "They see what we do, it's not something they get to do a lot," he said.

Mike Sulak is known as the station's chef. He has a binder several inches thick full of recipes that he uses to feed the 10 person shifts.

"I just love to cook," said Sulak. "It gives me a lot of pleasure when they say its good food. It's hard work, it's important to be well fed."

His favorite recipe is meat loaf, made with over eight pounds of meat, pork, mushrooms and other ingredients. Sulak spent six months developing his meat loaf and enters it in fire fighter cooking competitions.

"I just like to cook," he said. "It gives me a lot of pleasure when they say its good food. It's hard work and it's important to be well fed."

Eating dinner while on call has its challenges.

"We put a good meal on the table and hope we can eat without leaving," said Sulak. "More often we get the plate full and have to go."

Galen Thomaier, director of The Last Resort Fire Department, brought some of his volunteers and two fire trucks: a 1930 Mack Truck and a 1913 Seagrave. Both had served at the early Ballard fire station when it was at Russell Avenue and Market Street, as did Thomaier who worked there for seven years. He worked at the current fire station for 19 years.

"The best thing is helping people in need and the camaraderie," said Thomaier. "Since Sept. 11, 2001, its a very close group that puts its life on the line, living and eating meals together."

The Last Resort Fire Department has 16 antique fire trucks in its collection.

"We are preserving and restoring Seattle's fire department history," said volunteer member Page Reed.

Volunteers search nationwide for replacement parts to keep the fire trucks running. They appear at local events and parades.

When visitors were not looking at the modern and antique fire trucks, they took guided tours of the fire station.

Rowe explained how the staff checks out the rigs each morning, clean up around the building and rotate four shifts of ten people.

Other firefighters explained how the fire trucks worked, how they use oxygen tanks in fires and other demonstrations.

"We have to do this more often," said Sulak "We are here to serve the community and the fire house is a public building. We are more than happy to show people around, we are here for the community."

One of the senior fire fighters is Dave Rose, who has worked at Station 18 for 28 years.

"I like Ballard and the people in Ballard," he said. "I like to meet the community and the people we work for."