Allyson Park

2025 Fire Services Honouree

Allyson Park was a feisty little girl that didn’t let anything, or anyone slow her down.  She loved to be challenged.  She wasn’t afraid of hard work, and whenever someone told her something would be difficult or challenging or “hard”, she felt twice as sure that she could and would achieve it.  She spent most of her spare time in her skates, on the ice, with dreams of becoming a Disney Princess, and doing very well as a competitive skater.  She is proud daughter of first responders, and had no doubt in her mind that she would grow up to one day also serve her community like her mother and father, after Disney on Ice, of course.

She discovered a love of volunteering very early on, when she began offering her time at the skating club, where she made new kids feel welcome and shared her love of the sport with everyone she could.  True to her dreams, she auditioned for Disney on Ice, but the pandemic would halt all things and reinforce the need for where she really needed to be, and doing what she really needs to be doing.

Allyson Park is the first full-time East Gwillimbury firefighter and volunteers her time with a number of different local organizations like Partner Dogs Canada, which allows her to bring her sweet dog Elsa to schools to help students with various mental health activities and engagement.  She’s also very passionate about Camp Molly, a local program that challenge girls to learn about and participate in many new activities that they may find initially daunting (like breaking down a door or using a large piece of equipment like the ‘jaws of life’).  Allyson loves seeing the transformation of each participant as they each push through their own limiting beliefs and fears, to become the kind of woman who could and should consider a career in Emergency and Fire Services.

Her advice is short, simple and took her no time to answer, when asked what advice she would give her 16-year-old self, and it’s advice she does in fact give to the girls she meets through her volunteering, “Dream Big.  Break Barriers.  Do it”.  Having focus is really important, but having tunnel vision can be self-sabotage.  Remain aware and open to the opportunities and shifts that are always happening around us, “Adapt and overcome – information is always changing”.

Allyson’s secret to her confidence and success is that she gets up every single day and makes sure that she still “earns it”.  She was selected from a group of men and women that had the same qualifications as her and completed the same physicals.  She was chosen.  This is not something she takes lightly, and she makes sure every day that she pushes herself and continues to “deserve it”.  Surely her ‘inner Disney Princess’ had something to do with her glow, her presence and her obvious potential.  Thank goodness life unfolded as it did – while I’m sure she would have made an amazing “on Ice” troop member, her impact has been far greater as East Gwillimbury’s most influential firefighting female, and almost-Disney-Princess.