Yuma school now more festive thanks to firefighters

Roosevelt Elementary is a bit more festive this holiday season now that a 7-foot-tall Christmas tree has been delivered to the school Wednesday morning.

Rural/Metro spokesperson Charly McMurdie said firefighters at Station 5, who already have a fully decorated tree at their station, came across a spare tree and decided to donate it to one of the nearby schools.

So they loaded the tree into the back of an ambulance and took it over to the school, where they set it up in the main hallway just outside the office. They even put the first ornament on the tree, a bell from the movie “Polar Express.”

“It looks really nice,” said Roosevelt Principal Sofia Ramirez. “The students are already in the Christmas spirit, so I know they are going to enjoy it.”

Firefighter/EMT Olga Chapman, who actually attended the school as a child, said the tree delivery is part of the agency's new 12 Days of Christmas program.

Chapman explained that on each day leading up to the student's Christmas break, a different firefighter will bring a new ornament to the school and hang it on the tree.
“Every day there will be a new ornament, which will give the students something to look at, and to look forward to,” Chapman said.

Ramirez said the students will also help decorate the tree and will bring ornaments from home as well.

“I'm glad we had a big enough tree,” McMurdie said.

Then, on the final day, firefighters will return to the school and put on the final decoration, the top ornament. Neither McMurdie or Chapman would say what the ornament would be.