Young girls in Ottawa are being given the chance to know what it’s like to be a fire fighter.
Camp FFIT (Female Firefighters in Training) is in its seventh year. It is designed to teach young women about the career of firefighting.
Emma Waller is 19-year-old. She has been dreaming of a career in firefighting for years. This week, she got to live out her dream. “My dad is a firefighter, so I have grown up around the professional so it grew on me and this is what I’ve dreamed of since I was little,” she says.
Sixteen year old Emma Young camp to the camp because she loves to help people. She says the best part is being able to try things first hand. “We got the bunker gear on Monday, which was a big highlight because it's really cool to walk into things with that.”
Young says she is not intimidated by choosing a career that is dominated by men. “I think that this environment is something that I would be interested in because of the camaraderie, I don’t think it's intimidating at all.”
Right now, only three percent of firefighters are women. But camp director and current prevention officer Sue Jones says things are changing. “We are realizing that jobs don't have genders, which is wonderful, but we are only getting to that point now.”
Jones says the camp is beneficially because it gives the girls an early exposure to the career. Some of the tasks the girls got to test out include: auto extrication, search and rescue, forcible entry and fighting simulated kitchen and car fires. The camp also puts an emphasis on team building and leadership skills.
Amanda Gillespie has been a firefighter for five years and she was with the camp, to share her experience with the young girls. “Fitness (is a challenge), it’s not to say that we can't do the job, but it is a hard job and it's physically demanding.” But she says girls should not be scare to enter into this workforce. “I can't say that I focus on being a female fire fighter, I am more a firefighter, and I think the guys I work with would agree.”
CAMP FFIT has been so successful, it has been modelled in other Ontario cities like London and Hamilton. The week long camp is run by the City of Ottawa in partnership with Fire Service Women of Ontario.
