John Curran
Northern News Services

Fort Norman (Oct 24/05) - For Grade 1 student Christopher Kosh, it's never too early to start career planning.

On the off chance his dream of playing professional basketball doesn't come true, the Tulita youngster already has a Plan B.

Christopher Kosh, a Grade 1 student at Chief Albert Wright school in Tulita, was one of several students who got a chance to try on firefighting gear during fire prevention week. - photo courtesy of Neil Barry

"I'd like to maybe be a firefighter," he said. "I want to spray water on fires with the hose to put them out."

Kosh arrived at his decision after getting a chance to meet some of the lifesavers in his community and walk a few steps in their gear. As part of fire prevention week, Tulita fire chief Urban Antoine took volunteers Darren Morman, Greg Turnbull and Ron Pragnell to Chief Albert Wright school and made presentations to the students on the morning of Oct. 12. "After we showed them some videos, we asked questions about safety. Those kids were great, they all knew the answers," he said.

In Kosh's case, he said he learned if you are ever in a burning building it is important to crawl under the smoke so you can get to safety.

His teacher, Judy McPherson, said all of the kids were really taken with the presentation and there were more than a few chuckles along the way. "Seeing them try on all of the equipment - that was cute," she said.

Antoine said he couldn't have hoped for a better response from the event.

"It's good to get them involved when they are young so that maybe they'll join the force when they are older."

The strategy seems to be working. The day after the trip to the school, the department held an open house for the community.

"A lot of those same kids came to see us with their families," said Antoine.

Heading into the week, the community's volunteer department numbered just six. At the open house, however, two more potential recruits signed up.

"It was a good week for us," he said.