Fort Simpson (Jul 07/06) - When it comes to creating winning floats for the Fort Simpson Canada Day parade this year's contestants have set a high standard.

Up against more floats than last year, Nogha fire crews two and four walked away with first place.

Their entry contained a miniature landscape that showed a forest fire burning towards a cabin. The scene was made out of spruce boughs, moss and a variety of toys including a small cabin and airplanes. Burnt sticks and orange ribbons took the place of a real fire.

The idea for the float just sort of evolved as it was put together, said Mike Tsetso who works with Nogha four.

Nogha hasn't entered a float for four or five years because everyone was busy, but this year the Department of Environment and Natural Resources gave its approval for the crews to participate, said Tsetso.

The 10 crew members started work on the float on June 28. Everyone put in their own ideas and suggestions over the next few days, said Tsetso.

Creating the float was a lot of fun, he said.

Fire was a popular theme for floats this year with the Fort Simpson volunteer firefighters coming away with second place for their smoky entry.

The float drew attention to itself by emitting a trail of grey smoke from a child sized house. Labelled "future firefighters" the float featured a number of children in firefighting gear.

The idea behind the entry came from Val Gendron and Roger Pilling, said Sue Sibbeston.

It's actually an idea reused from a few years ago but spiced up with more decorations.

The secret behind the smoke was a machine that created the grey plume through a chemical reaction. The firefighters normally use it for training exercises.

With the firefighters and their families working together it only took a few hours on Friday night to put the float together, said Sibbeston.

The firefighters also highlighted their equipment capabilities during the parade by driving the ambulance and equipment truck as well as spraying the crowd from the pumper truck.

This parade ended a winning streak held by the staff of the community's CIBC branch.

For the past three years CIBC has taken first place, but this year they slipped to third.

Their entry was christened the CIBC Village People. A '70s feel was created by disco balls and Christmas garland that all shared the float together with Canadian flags.

Staff became the band members with Laurel McCowan as the cowboy, Christine Phillips as the sailor, Tanice Keitch as the police officer, Kerry Kraft as the biker, Kristen Barney as the construction worker and Yvonne Horassi as the aboriginal.

"We have a lot of fun," said McCowan who came up with the float idea while talking with her father.

Despite coming in third, the staff are not deterred.

"The goal next year is first," said McCowan.