Maria Canton
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 10/99) - Yellowknife resident Ann Kall was recently awarded the 1999 NWT Outstanding Volunteer Service Award for her unfailing dedication to promoting fire safety.

Kall was jointly nominated for the award by the Yellowknife Fire Department and the NWT Fire Chiefs Association and attended the ceremony in Hay River on April 24.

"Receiving the award is a wonderful honour, but I have to admit, I'm more of a behind-the-scenes person," said Kall.

The ceremony was set to coincide with the NWT Fire Chiefs Association's annual general meeting.

"It's very meaningful to me that so many fire personnel were there too," says Kall.

Mike Lowing, deputy fire chief at the YK fire department says, "The number of hours she puts in is phenomenal, but I know she would rather be three rows back running the programs while someone else gets the credit."

First volunteering as a firefighter in 1992, Kall became the public program co-ordinator for the Yellowknife Fire Department in May 1996.

Over the years, Kall has been instrumental in creating a fire safety awareness that extends far beyond Yellowknife's city limits and focuses on children.

"After doing community service for the fire department, I started to realize just how much families are impacted," says Kall.

"And how better to help them than to help educate, especially the children, on how to prevent or escape from fires."

It should be noted that Kall also has a busy full-time job with Human Resources Canada and a five-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son.

"It's busy, but the biggest reward is knowing that you may help someone make a choice that will save them from getting hurt, that's the ultimate reward," says Kall.

Kall introduced the fire safety and burn prevention program Play Safe Be Safe to the NWT and is currently involved in establishing the Risk Watch Program, which teaches injury prevention to children from kindergarten to Grade 5.

She has also done volunteer work with the Emergency Services Divisions, NWT Fire Chiefs Association, the Yellowknife Fire Department and the Department of Transportation.

All of that and 22 individual fire departments throughout the North.

In addition to the title, Kall received an eagle head and feather carved from a moose antler from Fort Smith artist Sonny MacDonald, a personal plaque, and her name has been inscribed on a plaque at the legislative assembly.

"The carving is absolutely beautiful, I wasn't expecting it," says Kall.

The NWT Outstanding Volunteer Service Award was first awarded in 1991.