It’s a chance for girls from southwestern Ontario to get an up close and personal look at what it would be like to make a career for themselves in fire services.
Female Firefighters in Training, otherwise known as Camp FFIT, has 20 participants for its second year in operation.
The girls range in age from 15 to 18 and over the course of the week will receive hands-on training that shows them what it would be like to join the service.
They’ll learn about a variety of positions within the department, while also picking up valuable first aid skills and fire training.
Allison Vickerd is a 9-year veteran of the London Fire Department, and the lead on the program. She tells AM980 they want young girls and women to know what their options are.
“Typically, young women who are looking for a more active career go into personal fitness or policing and they may never think of firefighting just because it’s never been presented to them as an option, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Internationally, roughly three per cent of firefighters are female, a trend that is present in London where about 3.5 per cent of the firefighters are female.
Specifically, out of the 340 front line London firefighters, 12 are female. At least half of London’s fire prevention staff are female, and all staff in dispatching are female.
This is the second year of Camp FFIT in London, modeled after Ottawa’s camp which is into its fifth year.
The program for this year is mostly unchanged from last year, the only difference is this year participants will also be exposed to what it’s like to work in communications and dispatch or as a fire prevention officer or public educator.
Vickerd says the goal of the camp is to broaden horizons.
“Our goal is not to make very participant want to go into firefighting at the end of the week. Our actual goal is to increase their confidence and make them realize that whatever goal they set, if they work really hard, they can attain that.”
Source: London Fire Department Holds Camp For Young Women | (CFPL AM) AM 980
