Arctic Bay (Mar 20/06) - The hardest part of Natasha Hughes' hobby is carrying people from roof tops down to the safety of the ground.

That shouldn't be much of a surprise, considering she is a 19-year old girl not all that interested in body building.

Natasha Hughes spends much of her free time climbing on top of buildings and carrying people on her back to the ground. In other words, she is a volunteer firefighter. She also volunteers in other capacities, such as helping out during community feasts. - photo courtesy of Ron Elliott

What she is into is volunteer firefighting. She's been doing that since last summer.

"I wanted to help firefighters because there are not many firefighters here," said Hughes.

She hasn't yet fought an emergency fire because only one has happened since she was on the crew, and she was out of town at the time.

But when the day comes, she predicts she will be "kind of nervous, maybe."

If there was a fire, Hughes' main post would be crowd-control.

However, if she was needed for anything else, she has the training to back her up.

The firefighters practise every Thursday.

"We train with working with the hoses, putting out the fire. We practise being fast at putting on our gear, and we practise getting on the roof and carrying people down to the ground."

So far, besides carrying dummies, Hughes has only carried her best friend Enid from a rooftop.

"It was hard," she said.

Besides training, she ensures the school and rental units all have working fire-extinguishers. Another big part of her life is her three-year old Calvin, and her job at the Arctic Co-op. After a spell as a cashier there, Hughes moved up the ranks and is now working at the post office in the same building.

She says she likes it well-enough, except when customers get upset.

"Somehow, I don't like it because if someone is waiting for a parcel and I tell them it's not here yet they blame me," she said with a laugh.