News : \'Best day EVER!\' Kindergarten, 1st grade students ride fire trucks

Kindergarten students wave to the camera before their ride begins.

Each rider received a plastic firefighter's hat.

While most children rode on the truck, this girl went in the cab with the firefighter.

Children wave flags from atop a fire truck as it heads south on C Avenue Thursday afternoon.

As they traveled along 4th Street, halfway through their trip from Tilford Elementary to downtown Vinton and back, one of the kindergarten boys expressed his approval of that day's activities with three words.

"Best day EVER!"

For more years -- decades, even -- than anyone can count, local firefighters have been giving elementary students some great days to look forward to each October.

Nobody knows for sure when the first Kindergarten students rode on fire trucks in Vinton; the firemen who participated in Thursday's ride remembered riding when they were in school. First grade students also participate in the annual tradition.

And while the children clearly enjoy the activity, it is also something the firefighters look forward to. They can teach fire prevention and safety in a way that makes children smile. And many of the firefighters have children, grandchildren or other relatives who participate in the annual Fire Prevention Week activities.