Gemma Hughes, Junior Fire Chief for the day, tackles a fire at the training centre.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
October 10, 2013 - 4:47 PM
KAMLOOPS – So what does the Junior Fire Chief do? They fearlessly go up the tall ladders, put out fires and break windows in a car that's been in an accident, all before sharing a pizza lunch with their class and an ice cream cake with the firefighters back at the station.
It's an honour hundreds of Grade 3-5 students in Kamloops hope for, but only one receives — Junior Fire Chief for the day. Now running for 29 years, students across the city are encouraged to enter a contest to be named Junior Fire Chief. Fire Safety Officer Sheldon Guertin says they try to keep it secret from the student until the morning of, when they show up at the school to pick up the student.
This year the big red truck rolled up to Dallas Elementary to pick up Gemma Hughes and keeping it a secret until the last minute was definitely worth it. Guertin says the young Grade 3 student was very excited, something Hughes also admits to, and it took a couple of the firefighters to calm her down before they could head out for a full day of running the show.
While there were many highlights for Hughes she says she most enjoyed breaking the windows of the car before watching two firefighters cut it up to fold back the roof, though manning the hose to put out a fire was a close second.
What will the Kamloops firefighters remember most about Hughes? Her constant energy that had her skipping and dancing for much of the day and her many jokes that entertained them while on the road.
To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca, call (250)819-3723 or tweet @JennStahn.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013