One of the first orders of business for the new chief of the Moose Jaw Fire Department was to tell Deputy Chief Rod Montgomery he should maybe go out and do some Christmas shopping.
10-year-old Samantha Karn was the lucky winner of the Times-Herald’s Fire Prevention Week contest, which ran Oct. 7 –– 13. Children were asked to fill out the fire safety crossword puzzle accompanying fire safety tips and enter the finished puzzle for a chance to become fire chief for the day.
Samantha was accompanied by her mother, Linda Karn and brought along her doll Stephanie for support in filling the shoes of Fire Chief Garth Palmer for the day.
“She was pretty excited last night and had a hard time getting to sleep," Linda told the Times-Herald. “My husband saw the contest in the Times-Herald and they worked on it and a few weeks later we got the surprising call.”
Palmer and Moose Jaw firefighter, Dara Uzelman gave Karn a tour of the station and trucks to let her in on the routines the Moose Jaw Fire Department does on a daily basis. “This is the classroom,” Palmer told Karn, as he showed her some of the computer systems the department uses. “Every day firefighters have to go to school to learn new things and keep up to date.”
Karn was on her way to meet with Mayor-elect Deb Higgins, after she wrapped up business at the fire station. “It just worked out really great that Dara was on today to give the tour,” Palmer said about Karn being able to meet a female firefighter, along with getting to meet Moose Jaw’s first female mayor.
When Karn was asked if she might want to be a firefighter when she grows up, she said, “no –– I’m going to be a veterinarian so I can have as many pets as I want.”
For more on this story pick up the next issue of the Times-Herald.
