Fire Safety Week runs from Oct. 3 through 9 this year, but Miss Ontario Fire Fighter will be in local schools telling kids that fire safety should be considered all year long.
Emily Burgess, 18, was named Miss Ontario Fire Fighter this year, having spent the previous year as Ambassador of the Fair for Harriston.
She said she is really enjoying her provincial reign.
“I’ve been loving it,” she said in an interview at the Harriston Fall Fair. “I’ve been meeting fire fighters and talking to kids about fire safety.”
She said she expected those talks to increase during Fire Safety Week, a time that fire departments from professional to volunteer work hard to make people aware of such things as the efficacy of smoke alarms to parents warning kids not to play with matches.
“I’m really looking forward to working with students,” she said. “Kids tend to listen when somebody younger comes in.”
So far, she has not been presented with a schedule for appearances.
Burgess, in doing that work, will be in something of a rehearsal for her career.
She is completing her grade 12 this year, and hopes to go to university for a business degree and obtain a masters in public speaking. That will allow her to fulfill her dream of travelling the world and speaking to youth for such organizations as Free the Children and War Child.
In the meantime, she will be urging youth to be fire safe.
