Two Students Win Fire Prevention Poster Contest

By Andrew Gorosko

The town fire marshal’s office has named two students from town schools as the winners of the annual local fire prevention poster contest.

Named the winner in the fifth grade competition is Stephie Edwards, 10, a student in Mrs Mastroni’s class at Reed Intermediate School. She is the daughter of Lisa and Frank Edwards.

Named the winner in the fourth grade competition is Sarah Houle, 9, a student in Mrs McCoy’s class at Middle Gate School. She is the daughter of Michelle and Robert Houle.

The girls received certificates noting their artistic achievement and US Savings Bonds rewarding their efforts in ceremonies held December 30 at the fire marshal’s office at the Newtown Municipal Center at Fairfield Hills.

The theme of the poster competition is “Fire Prevention, Everyone/Everyday.”

Stephie’s winning poster depicts a jack-o-lantern and a ghost on a front porch on Halloween night. It urges that people use safe battery-operated lights in their Halloween pumpkins for illumination rather than use candles, which have hazardous open flames.

Sarah’s poster shows a fire engine traveling on a fire call with its emergency lights on. A decal bearing a “No Smoking” pictograph is affixed to the side of the vehicle.

Deputy Fire Marshal Michael Zilinek said that there were several hundred local entries from students in this year’s fire prevention poster competition.

Staffers at the participating schools narrowed down the entries, after which what were considered to be the 25 best posters were presented to the fire marshal’s staff for judging for the awards.

The purpose of the poster competition is to make schoolchildren and their families aware that preventing fires requires everyone being alert everyday to those acts, omissions, and dangers that cause fires. The project seeks to promote child and adult awareness of fire prevention responsibilities.

The contest also seeks to develop joint educational efforts between the schools and local fire services.

Both Stephie’s and Sarah’s posters will be entered in a countywide poster competition.

The posters that win county-level awards will be exhibited around the state, including the State Capitol building next October, which is fire prevention month.Eventually, an overall winning poster will be chosen to promote fire prevention throughout the state.