Since 1996, Tamaqua firefighter Chris Hadesty has taken charge of the annual Fire Prevention Day program at Tamaqua Elementary School.

Now, after 26 years, Hadesty is stepping down.

“It’s time to let the younger generation take over. It’s time for new blood,” he said.

Hadesty and other firefighters spent Monday at the school for Fire Prevention Day, teaching students what to do in an emergency situation, and showing off equipment from each of the borough’s four fire companies.

His daughter, Anna, was among the youths. She is in fifth grade - so this will be her last year at the school. It’s another reason Hadesty has decided to step down from the leadership role.

“I will still be around,” he said, noting he’ll just take a back seat. “I’ll be around to help, or to assist if they need it.”

Hadesty attended Tamaqua Elementary School and remembered the visits from firefighters. He graduated from Tamaqua Area High School in 1992, and by that point, he had joined the ranks of the American Hose Company as a junior firefighter.

He’d go on to be a live-in student at the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department in Rockville, Maryland, while he was studying fire sciences at Montgomery College. While there, he was introduced to the National Fire Protection Association’s “Learn Not to Burn” program.

With experience in educating children about fire safety, he was asked to take over the fire prevention program when he returned to Tamaqua in 1996.

“And that was it,” Hadesty said. “I was here since then.”

It is a venture he has always enjoyed.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” he said. “You see the enjoyment the kids get - especially when they see the firetrucks. Every kid loves firetrucks.”

The program changes from year to year, meaning students can build upon the lessons they learn.

“Obviously we want the kids to be safe so we do it for that reason,” he said. “And we do it for the enjoyment because the kids love to see firetrucks and love to learn.”

His mother, Bettsy Hadesty, and his sister, Beth (Hadesty) Job, were on hand to watch him teach his final class of the day Monday.

Hadesty is the assistant chief of the Kingston Fire Department and continues to fight fires with the American Hose Company.

He’s also on the board of the Tamaqua Ambulance Association.