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This shot demonstrates the kids' activities - the sprinkler, the firefighter helmet and the ice cream. 

Children get their licks in before the ice cream begins to melt in the summer time heat and humidity. 

Glen Carbon Fire and EMS vehicles temporarily took over Atlanta Drive in Savannah Crossing as the village's first responder tour moved the village's east side.

Children and possibly a few adults enjoyed the impromptu sprinkler that the firemen created using their equipment. 

This cooler was a popular spot as a firefighter handed out donated ice cream bars to children and adults. Often times, it was a tie between the sprinkler and the ice cream for favorite part of the event. 

The cooling spray offered relief from a another summer day with high temperatures near 100 degrees Farenheit.

Firehats were not just for wearing, as these kids demonstrate, as they collected sprinkler runoff, foreground, and used it to splash each other, background. 

Kids who wanted to see what the inside of a firetruck cab is like or what the back of ambulance looks like and their opporunity to poke around in one Wednesday.

Multiple Glen Carbon fire trucks, police vehicles and ambulances descended on the Savannah Crossing Subdivision Wednesday but there was no emergency. They brought donated ice cream, toy fire helmets and goody bags for the kids and information for their parents.

First responders took over the lone block of Atlanta Drive between Savannah and Richmond drives for about an hour. Crews rigged a fire hose and nozzle to create a huge shower head and dangled it from the end of a ladder truck, providing a constant, cooling shower to anyone who wanted to a temporary escape from a torrid summer day.

This stop is the latest on the village first responders' tour. Starting in late May, Glen Carbon police and fire officials have been visiting different subdivisions. They have tried to bring a unique element to each tour stop such as a helicopter landing.

After 30 minutes, some creative children found a new use for the fire helmets besides splashing siblings with water from them – they used them to collect sprinkler runoff from the street gutters and splash each other.

Resident Mark Paulsen brought his two young sons by to check out the activities. 

"We have an awesome neighborhood Facebook group that kept us up-to-date with events like this," he said as his boys handed off their hats and ice cream wrappers and wooden sticks. 

Across the street, Shannon Portell watched her daughter, 5, enjoy the spray. 

"I didn't know they were going to have the water, so this is more fun that we anticipated," she said.

Portell said she and her family moved into Savannah Crossing a few months ago. Her daughter had a tough time deciding which was more fun, the spray or the ice cream.

"She wanted to become a firefighter since she was three until recently, when she discovered she would have to interact with fire, then she decided that was too dangerous," Portell said. "Now, she wants to be an artist."

Even Village Trustee Mike Sonderegger, who lives in the vicinity, stopped by for a while.

Glen Carbon Fire Chief Jason Whitaker said the tour was his idea.

"We have a lot of people who come to our open house each year but this way, we can come to more people and it's easy for them," he said. "This year, one of our goals is to give back to the community."

Near the center of it all, a firefighter passed out dream bars, ice cream sandwiches and other frozen treats donated by Prairie Farms Dairy. At times, it was difficult to tell which the children preferred more, the big sprinkler or the ice cream.

"We want their parents to know about the free resources available to them from the fire and police departments that people may not know about," Whitaker said, handing a flyer to a reporter. 

Examples include a residential Knox Box program that permits residents to safely store a house key outside of their residents in case emergency personnel needs emergency access to their homes, such as if a lightning strike happens while the family is at DisneyWorld. Another program involves getting two, new 10-year smoke detectors donated and installed. On the police side, residents can use the police department lobby, 149 N. Main St., behind village hall, as a way to safely exchange items for payment from Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. For those who own home security cameras, they can join a group that would be notified in the event of a crime in their area. In that instance, the police may contact homeowners to see if they unintentionally captured any footage that could be used as evidence. 

The next first responder tour stop will be in the Meridian Oaks subdivision but Whitaker said the date and activities remain undecided. 

Charles Bolinger covers Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Edwardsville Township and the Collinsville School District for The Edwardsville Intelligencer. A graduate of Webster University in St. Louis, he has been writing for the paper since 2018.