Firefighters soar on Slotzilla to raise money for charity — PHOTOS

More than 100 feet in the air, a dozen or so firefighters lined up to zoom over the street Thursday.

In groups of four, the men and women were secured to a blue mat raised on an accordionlike hydraulic lift. A metal gate dropped, and the first responders zipped over the Fremont Street Experience, flying over Las Vegas Fire and Rescue’s Engine No. 1 like superheroes.

Firefighters, after all, need to be brave.

So when the Fremont Street Experience contacted the Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation about racing down the Slotzilla zoom line, none of the firefighters flinched. It’s for charity.

The Fremont Street Experience donated all of Thursday afternoon’s ticket sales to the nonprofit, which helps burn victims, assists families displaced by home fires and works closely with the Burn Unit at University Medical Center.

“We do our best to take care of people at home,” Henderson firefighter Garrett Dodrill said. “All of the events and functions we hold are to get money to be able to send kids to the various burn camps.”

Dodrill serves on the Burn Foundation’s board, which is representative of fire departments across Southern Nevada, including those at Nellis Air Force Base.

The group is focused on raising funds for the Embers of Hope winter burn camp for children scarred by fire.

The nonprofit wants to send about nine kids that are burn victims and four camp counselors for a weekend of fun and personal development to Big Bear Lake, Calif.

“We want to make sure we don’t have to tell anybody no,” Dodrill said.

“We try to get their family members there, try to get enough camp counselors there to take care of the kids.”

The Fremont Street Experience has held three charity events using the only amenity it sells directly — Slotzilla — in the last three months, and supporting the burn foundation is the first for 2015.

“We still like to think of Fremont Street as the heart and soul of Las Vegas, so we try to give back to the community,” Fremont Street Experience spokesman Thomas Bruny said.

The ride features a zip line 74 feet high, where people ride 850 feet in a sitting pose, and a zoom line 114 feet high, where people fly headfirst from Las Vegas Boulevard North to Main Street.

For the 1,000 riders the attraction averages every day, speed depends on the person’s size, Bruny said.

“It’s not that scary,” Dodrill said. “It’s fun.”

It costs the foundation about $450 to send a child or a counselor to burn camp. When the charity event ended, the nonprofit was gifted with $3,792.

“We are extremely happy,” foundation president and Clark County Fire Department Capt. Warren Whitney said.