No, the public doesn’t “need” to see it. If they do, let them buy tickets that defray the operational costs.
Hellz no, I paid for it once already!
I worked as a firefighter for 35 years and attended MANY demonstrations at schools and held MANY firehouse visits for kids and adults. The good will generated was priceless and I know for a fact that 4 kids ultimately became firefighters (recruiting?). Bean counters would accuse us of “wasting” fuel to drive over to a school for a public education event, but it paid dividends. Maybe we should have charged each kid $5 to climb on our rigs....hmmmm....