Westwego Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 will throw open its annual Fireman's Fair and Expo on Saturday, September 19, turning the Westwego Farmers Market into a daylong showcase of fire trucks, live rescue demonstrations, and free public safety lessons aimed squarely at the kitchen. The free event runs noon to 6 p.m. at 4849 Sala Ave. and closes with a concert by Swamp Pop musician Aaron Foret from 3 to 6 p.m.
According to a Westwego Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 post announcing the event, the fair will display all of the department's fire trucks alongside live demonstrations covering kitchen grease fires, vehicle extrication, and an E.D.I.T.H. smokehouse trailer for kids. Vendors will sell food and drinks throughout the day, and organizers describe the fair as the department's biggest fundraiser of the year, a distinction that lines up with the department's own account of the event as its largest annual moneymaker, per the City of Westwego.
The department traces its roots back to 1922 and now runs two fire stations staffed by a mix of volunteer and career firefighters, per the city. It also offers free home fire safety inspections and smoke alarm installations year-round, work that helped the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana upgrade the department to a Class 2 fire rating in 2021 — a distinction that can lower property insurance premiums for Westwego residents and business owners, since PIAL rates departments on a 1-to-10 scale where Class 1 is the highest possible mark.
Grease Fires and a New Room Simulator
One demonstration will directly target the leading cause of house fires in America. Firefighters plan to show attendees how to use a fire extinguisher on a kitchen grease fire, reinforcing the department's own warning, shared on Facebook, that water should never be poured on a grease fire. National Fire Protection Association data updated this year shows cooking causes nearly 49% of all reported U.S. home structure fires, and unattended cooking alone is responsible for more than 30% of home cooking fires.
The financial stakes of those fires are steep. State Farm reports that indoor and outdoor home cooking fires generated nearly $234 million in paid claims between January 2024 and November 2025, with individual losses averaging more than $73,000 per incident, and frying equipment accounting for nearly 60% of cooking fire incidents. This year's fair adds a newly built room simulator that demonstrates how fire behaves inside a normal house room, giving visitors a firsthand look at how quickly conditions can turn dangerous.
Smokehouse Trailer Teaches Escape Drills
Kids will get their own hands-on safety lesson inside a smoke house trailer built around the E.D.I.T.H. — Exit Drills In The Home — program. The National Fire Protection Association developed E.D.I.T.H. to push families to design floor plans with two exits per room and to practice escape drills twice a year, according to the City of Margate Fire Department, which notes that a home fire can leave occupants as little as two minutes to escape once smoke alarms sound. A kids obstacle course rounds out the youth activities this year with a new window prop added to the lineup.
Beyond the smokehouse, firefighters will run a live vehicle extrication demonstration using hydraulic rescue tools popularly known as the Jaws of Life. The tools let firefighters cut metal and spread crushed vehicle frames while remaining spark-free to avoid igniting fuel, according to South County Fire, and every firefighter trains specifically on operating them.
Swamp Pop Closes Out the Fair
The day wraps with a set from Aaron Foret, part of a multi-generational West Bank musical family carrying on South Louisiana's Swamp Pop tradition, a genre that emerged in the 1950s by blending New Orleans R&B with Cajun and country influences, according to OffBeat Magazine. Foret performs regularly at regional dance halls and community events across the region.
The Westwego Farmers & Fisheries Market itself functions as an open-air community hub with covered vendor booths and an outdoor amphitheater in Westwego's historic district, and the Sala Avenue corridor regularly hosts community street festivals and seasonal markets, per Visit Jefferson Parish. The Jefferson Parish Department of Fire Services serves as the parish-level administrative liaison between municipal volunteer fire companies like Westwego's and parish government, coordinating regional fire service resources across the West Bank, according to Jefferson Parish.
Westwego Fire Chief Ken Bouvier brings decades of executive experience to the department, having begun his fire service career as a volunteer in 1975 before spending 33 years with New Orleans EMS, retiring as Deputy Chief of Operations. He was elected 1st District Representative for the Louisiana Fire Chiefs Association in May 2026. Hoodline previously reported on the department's response to a 1964 dock fire, underscoring the department's long history of service to the West Bank community it continues to protect.
