LAURINBURG — It’s not always all work and no play while on shift at the city of Laurinburg Fire Department. Sometimes the firefighters can take a moment to enjoy the smaller things.

And sometimes, those smaller things come in even smaller packages.

City of Laurinburg Engineer Chris Strickland has had a visitor come by the station recently who has left what he said is “a lasting impression.”

“This little guy has come to hang out with me the last two shifts,” said Strickland, “and he enjoys everything about fire trucks and helping people.”

When 4-year-old Ke’lil Brown and his father popped in for the first time to visit the station and see the fire trucks, Strickland was cutting the grass.

“I hopped off the lawnmower and took him over to the bay where the trucks were and walked around with him so he could see them. His eyes immediately lit up when he saw the trucks,” said Strickland. “After a little while his dad told him I had to get back to work and they had to go — he got so upset and started crying.”

Strickland, being the type of person he is, took pity on Brown and told him he could come back on Saturday when he would be back on shift — and maybe they could spray some water.

“So Saturday rolled around and, sure enough, they came back,” said Strickland. “I pulled one of the trucks out and let him spray water for a little while.”

Next, Brown was given a detailed tour of the fire trucks.

“We walked around them and I let him check out all the equipment and see what-all we kept on them to fight fires,” said Strickland. “After he had seen all the trucks, of course, he had to spray some more water.

“I’ve never seen a kid’s eyes light up so much and have so much heart for helping people at such a young age,” said Strickland. “He’s going to be a great firefighter one day and the world needs more people like him.”

Brown plans to go back for future visits to see Strickland and learn more about what it takes to be a firefighter.

“My son has loved fire trucks since he was born,” said Ke’lil’s father Cedric Brown. “Those guys were awesome, we had so much fun with him, it was just a blast. The junior firefighters even got involved and helped make sure my son had a good time and talk with him. We will definitely be going back. They just love him.”

Cedric also said that his son’s love for fire trucks came from seeing the trucks pass by their home so often.

“We don’t live far from the North Fire Station,” Cedric said. “Ke’lil saw them passing by at such a young age and became infatuated with them, and as for the firefighters, he looks at them as heroes.

“He will not have anything to do with your regular kids shows,” added Cedric “For example, Transformers and shows like that, he won’t watch them, there has to be a fire truck for him to even pay it any attention.”

As Cedric continued to talk about his son and his love for the big red trucks he also mentioned that Ke’lil can name all the parts of them as well.

“I mean, he is just such a great kid and for these guys to take the time to show him the trucks is amazing to me,” said Cedric. “Now that he has been visiting with them he can even name some of the tools and knows where they are. He even knows that the buttons and levers on the truck are called gauges.”

Ke’lil isn’t quite old enough to join the department yet, but his father plans on getting him his very own set of fire gear.

“I have put my wife on the task of ordering the gear,” said Cedric. “We will be ordering it today, I hope. We are just making sure we have all of his dimensions right. I can’t wait for it to come in so he can put it on and come show it off to the guys.”

JJ Melton can be reached at jmelton@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.