With the big night quickly approaching, Santa is trying to make it to all North End neighborhoods to hear as many children’s wishes as possible. To make the job easier, he’s tapped into his connections with the local fire departments, borrowing the fire engines on different nights to visit North Kitsap kids.

Kris Kringle is receiving help from North Kitsap Fire & Rescue and Poulsbo Fire Department firefighters, who serve as elves, sharing candy canes and holiday cheer.

“This is my first time helping Santa,” said NKF&R firefighter Jeremy Karapostoles. “So far, I’m enjoying it.”

He accompanied NKF&R firefighter Dean Schuster, who played the big guy in red for the first time this year. New crew members are usually asked to get suited up for the role, and so far Schuster said he had enjoyed it.

“Seeing the excitement in kids’ eyes has been the best part so far,” Schuster said Dec. 12 at the Kingston Albertsons. “There have only been a few kids who’ve been scared, the rest seem pretty excited to see Santa.”

The Poulsbo Fire Department has received similar displays of happiness and anxiousness to see Santa, said PFD public information officer Jody Matson. Concerned parents have been calling since the Dec. 14 windstorm to make sure the fire truck boasting the “big guy in red” will still be making its rounds.

“People call and are very sad when we miss their neighborhoods,” she said. “We missed (Dec. 16, 17 and 18) due to helping with the storm, but we are hoping to make that up to the children.”

Though it will be a crunch to visit all of Poulsbo by Christmas Eve, Santa is no stranger to tight deadlines. The difficult part will be to work in the firefighters and their schedules before Christmas morning, Matson said.

“It’s been tough with the storm,” Matson said. “We’ve had parents calling to make sure that we’re still going to their streets.”

One-year-old Kelsie Keith had her first encounter with Santa Claus at the Kingston Albertsons on Dec. 12, and she was pretty curious until her dad, Kingston resident Ben Keith, went to go take a picture.

“This is her second Christmas,” he said. “She was too young last Christmas to really know who this strange man holding her was. This was the first Santa she’s seen since last year.”

The shortfall of having firefighter elves, however, was when a call came in, they had to fly off faster than Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Just as children were getting over their shyness to approach the popular guy and his bag of candy cane, NKF&R crews were called away to serve the public and Santa Claus among them.

As he sprinted away, leaving a lone candy cane outside Albertsons, he waved, gave a “Ho, ho, ho” and vanished into the night with sirens wailing and lights flashing.