May 1, 2017

Meet Chris Gantz of FireZone in Northwest Suburbs

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Gantz.

Chris, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The FireZone is a firefighter owned and operated business that evolved from a successful mobile party business. The FireZone is a one-of-a-kind fire safety activity center and event facility for all ages and occasions, allowing a uniquely fun, hands-on look into the world of firefighting. The FireZone features a firehouse theme with real firefighters, fire engines, educational displays, firefighter activity stations and programming to allow an imaginatively fun, learning experience. The FireZone provides a safe, clean, fun, and engaging environment for children to play in and explore. The FireZone’s supervised activities ensure children’s safety, while challenging them to think, interact, imagine and have fun. FireZone specializes in all-inclusive birthday parties, field trips and playtimes. Recently, the FireZone launched the country’s first firefighter-themed team building program for corporate events.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We are doing something totally different and that is always a challenge. Not only did we build the activity elements ourselves, the FireZone staff is comprised of local firefighters. This uniqueness continues to differentiate the FireZone from other party and events facilities. I guess it comes from the nature of being firefighters, but we have always put our guests and their positive experience ahead of our business needs, which can be difficult sometimes when trying to operate any business.

Please tell us about FireZone.
We strive to be special in every way we can. When people ask us what we do, we have come to understand that we are an experience company. We are anything and everything firefighters, fire trucks and firefighting fun. As a one-of-a-kind events facility, we are always humbled in the fact that guests travel from out of town to visit us or drive 45 minutes for a 3 year old’s birthday party. I think that our humbled approach to business and appreciation for every guest that walks through the door is truly what sets us apart from everyone else.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Through the experiences while creating the FireZone, I have come to appreciate the power of imagination. I remember mimicking scenes from the vt show Emergency and playing “rescue” with neighbors, where we would use skateboards to move hurt victims and had a fishing tackle box as our rescue kit. The FireZone has really been designed to spark that imagination in kids…and adults.

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