(WSB photos by Anne Higuera)

Seattle Public Library branches host lots of story times – but they don’t all have special guests like this one at Delridge Library did. More than three dozen people were there this afternoon as the library hosted Firefighter Story Time, with North Delridge’s Station 36 firefighters there to not just read, but also to educate:

Part of the goal is to show kids, in a calm non-emergency situation, what the firefighters’ gear looks like, so they won’t be frightened if they encounter them in scarier, suited-up circumstances:

The firefighters of course arrived in their apparatus, Engine 36, which the kids got to check out firsthand:

One of the important questions the firefighters asked the kids – what number do you call in case of emergency? (Not all knew it’s 911.)