CHIEF FOR A DAY

SOFIA SANCHEZ NAMED FIRE CHIEF FOR A DAY

Sofia Sanchez, 7, left, a Grade Three student from St. Paul School, was named Fire Chief for a Day on Friday.

Sofia Sanchez, 7, a Grade 3 student from St. Paul School was surprised to learn she would be the new fire chief — at least for a day.

Sanchez was awarded the title after she coloured a safety message and entry form for the Fire Chief for a Day contest, which coincides with Fire Prevention Week.

The theme this year is “Every Second Counts Plan 2 Ways Out.”

On Friday morning, members of the Lethbridge Fire Department, along with Sparky the Fire Dog, surprised Sanchez and her classmates with the news.

Sanchez was presented with a certificate, prize package and firefighter uniform.

The entire class was given an inside look at a firetruck and on a later date, members of the fire department will pick up the Sanchez family for a cruise in a fire truck.

“It’s been the best day and I just had a really lucky day today,” said Sanchez.

“It was really fun and I got to go into a firetruck. I got to learn a lot of cool stuff.”

She now knows the importance of stop, drop and roll.

“If you've got fire in your pants you can roll over and so you can get out all the fire because the fire is sticking to you,” she said. “If you have extra clothing... you can put it on your nose so you can breath and then you can try and escape and you meet your family outside.”

The premise of the Fire Chief for a Day program is to ensure youngsters are comfortable around fire safety.

To tackle this year’s theme, firefighters spoke to students “ensuring they understand and have two ways to get out of their house, should there be an event that they need to get out safely,” said deputy fire chief Greg Adair.

“We talked about it, they were quite engaging and most of them actually have a home escape plan which is wonderful to see.”

“We send them home with a little bit of homework; we tell them to go talk to their mom and dads and engage them in the home safety program as well,” he said.

“These kids are like sponges of course, if they can learn at a young age they’re ambassadors to fire safety. They will lead that everyday of their life if we can get to them and educate them early in life.”