Fire Company Surprises Contest Winner

Neighbors gathered outside near Schaefer Field Thursday evening as the sirens of fire trucks could be heard blaring down Provident Road. 

"Did someone here call 9-1-1?" firefighters from the Southampton Fire Company asked six-year-old Taylor Trainor.

Taylor, who had just returned from swimming class, shook her head full of damp hair no as she stood wide-eyed on the front lawn of her home in the Latimer Farms neighborhood of Southampton. 

It was only when Sparky the Fire Dog sneaked up behind Taylor that the team of firefighters who had assembled let her in on their secret.

Taylor had been selected as one of three winners of the fire company's annual Fire Prevention Week poster contest.

"I was very surprised," said Taylor, a first grader at Our Lady of Good Counsel School, in an interview following the presentation.

She said she had no idea that her poster depicting Sparky stopping, dropping and rolling and "staying out of the firefighters way so they could do their job" had won the contest.

Taylor credited her mom, Terri, for helping her with her entry and her teacher for serving as the inspiration for the content.

Firefighters invited Taylor and a number of other children who had assembled to sit in the fire truck, sound the truck's siren and have their pictures with Sparky.

As a prize, Taylor was awarded a gift certificate to Toys-R-Us and a fire prevention t-shirt. 

Taylor said she is unsure how she is going to spend her winnings.