As part of Autism month, Autism Cook Islands (ACI) hosted families and friends went for an Airport Aviation Fire and Rescue visit on Thursday.

According to Kat Jensen, ACI’s programme manager, the visits has been held every year since 2020.

The visit was the last event for this month.

The students, family members and volunteers, were separated into three groups, and each group were put into designated areas until it was time to switch places.

There were three designated areas with different activities, the first activity was directed by Chris George, his role in the visit was to have the kids experience what it’s like to be on a rescue boat.

The first group of students, volunteers and families, were instructed to put on a life jacket after climbing on the boat, George then took the participants for a small ride as they remained on the boat with two other Fire and Rescue crew members, whilst George drove the truck connected to the boat.

The second activity with the second group was managed by Piri Urirau, his activity involved Fire equipment and tools.

He introduced the tools, stated its purpose and demonstrated an example of putting on a firefighters clothing gear.

He offered the students the opportunity to try on the gears and also hold some fire tools.

The third activity with the last group, was organised by Royal Henry, he demonstrated how to use a fire hose and showed the group other features of the hose.

He also demonstrated different water pressures for different situations, he also showed the participants different ways firefighters use to put out a fire but going left and right, circular motions, up and down.

The final activity, which is the fire truck rides and tour, the crew showed the participants an example of what they do as part of their workforce while also taking the participants for a ride on the runway, where they tested the sirens and water.

ACI fundraised over $20,000 from donations on Blue Day from businesses, donations of the people, the community and the sales of Blue Day t-shirts. Last year they managed to fundraise over $17,000.