There’s a new chief in town.
First Baptist Academy student Chibuokem Iwuala was promoted to the rank of Fire Chief after winning this year’s St. John’s Regional Fire Department’s (SJRFD) Fire Chief for a Day contest.
For over two decades, the SJRFD has invited students in grades 4 thru 6 to draw posters highlighting the year’s Fire Safety week theme and submit their work for a chance to win great prizes, amongst them the honour of being named Fire Chief for a Day.
“The purpose is to drive home the message of fire safety not only to the children, but also to their families as well,” said Fire Inspector Cara Pardy “We find that if we get the message out to the children, then they’re going to go home and teach their parents about what they learned in school. So, by getting them to do it based on our theme, which is always based around home safety, it makes them think. So, this year, ‘Fire Won’t Wait. Plan Your Escape.’ Was the theme. So, they go home and talk to their parents about having an escape plan, and practising fire drills, so everyone knows what to do should that fire alarm go off in the middle of the night, or in the middle of the day.”
Out of the roughly 400 submissions, Iwuala’s poster was selected as the best by a panel of judges at the fire department.
“It’s a tough decision to come up with a winner, because we have so many good entries,” said Pardy. “Iwuala had so many good fire safety tips on her poster. So, we look only at the quality of the drawing, but the messages that are there as well. The theme has to be on it, that’s the number one thing that we look for. And her poster had a lot of bright colours, so it was very attractive to look at, and it had a lot of good fire safety messages on there.”
Iwuala’s poster featured a blazing fire and the ticking hands of a clock, headlined by this year’s theme.
“It’s to help people remember that you shouldn’t wait, but that you should plan for fires,” explained Iwuala.
The Grade 5 student had a busy day, with a fire truck picking her up at her home at 8:45 a.m. and then brining her to school so her classmates and teachers could celebrate with her.
From there, Iwuala toured fire stations in St. John’s, Mount Pearl, and Paradise, ate lunch at McDonald’s with department members, and met with mayors Danny Breen, Dave Aker, and Dan Bobbett, of St. John’s, Mount Pearl, and Paradise respectively.
Iwuala had even prepared some policy changes that she was planning to present to the municipal leaders.
“Kids should get paid $25 an hour to go to school,” said Iwuala.
She even had a plan on what she would do with her money.
“I would save my money up to pay my teachers for teaching,” she said.
There’s no word yet on whether the municipalities will be implementing the new policy.
“It’s a great day all around,” said Pardy.” It’s exciting. Its exhausting. And we absolutely love it. We look forward to this day every single year. It’s so much fun for us.”
The 2021 Fire Chief for a Day winner, Christian Coronado, also hailed from First Baptist Academy.
