Young fire chief for a day has town staff on a string

Young fire chief for a day has town staff on a string

Markham

Keely Grasser

All fire chiefs have to be able to make important policy decisions and lead their department.

Not many can do these things while telling jokes and playing cat’s cradle.

But Stephanie Gu can.

The Grade 4 William Berczy Public School student served as Markham’s Fire and Emergency Service’s junior fire chief for the day on Thursday.

Stephanie met with Mayor Frank Scarpitti in council’s chambers, had lunch with local firefighters during a visit to a fire station and took up post in deputy fire chief Bill Snowball’s office during her time as chief.

The nine-year-old Markham resident got to see the firefighters’ kitchen and TV room at the station, she said, and was in the communications room when an emergency call was dispatched.

“The fireman rushed to the fire truck,” she said.

She got the giggles when Mr. Snowball asked her permission to answer the ringing phone on his desk, since technically, it was Stephanie’s desk for the day.

Throughout the day, she kept the staff in giggles with her jokes and gave Mr. Snowball some tips on string games like cat’s cradle.

Stephanie got the job after her poster, which she said was inspired after she heard about escape route plans, fire safety and smoke alarms at school, was selected from about 500 entries from elementary students around Markham.

Mr. Snowball said her poster was selected as the winner because it addressed the elements of RiskWatch, a program that teaches children to prevent eight of the most common childhood injuries, including fire and burn injuries.

Aside from her day with the fire department, Stephanie also got her very own Markham firefighter suit and hat, a smoke detector, an MP3 player and other goodies.

Being the boss was fun and felt pretty good, she reported. After her experience, Stephanie said she ““maybe” wants a career in fire.

But she added she is also thinking about being a movie director or a magician.

“Firefighters are like magicians,” Mr. Snowball told her. “They can make fires disappear.”

“But it takes time!” Stephanie argued.

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