APEX, N.C. — Female firefighters — many who’ve made a career in this male-dominated industry — are trying to inspire the next generation of girls.
What You Need To Know
- Women make up 10% of all firefighters, according to the National Fire Protection Association
- Camp Ignite is showing teenage girls what it’s like to be a firefighter
- The camp teaches kids that there’s a lot more to the job than putting out fires
- There are similar camps all across the state
Less than 10% of all firefighters in the United States are female, as stated by the National Fire Protection Association.
Firefighters are among the first to be dispatched to emergency calls. But the large majority of firefighters you’ll see in any department are male. Jess Rogers and her female co-workers say they are working to change that.
“For me, representation matters,” Rogers said. “It’s about building their confidence, right? And exposing them little by little to the things that we do that are just fun.”
Camp Ignite teaches teenage girls about the many jobs of being a firefighter.
“Before I started this camp, I thought firefighters, their only job was to put out fires,” camper Arni Pancras said. “When I came here, I learned that they do basically everything.”
Pancras just graduated from high school and is trying to learn more about different public service careers.
“I’ve always thought of firefighters as mostly, like, a male job,” Pancras said. “They told us the stats yesterday. In our city, at least, there’s over 200 male firefighters and only, like, 17 female. But we got to see all the female firefighters. And they’re amazing. They can do basically the exact same thing.”
According to the camp organizers, the abilities gained in this camp are applicable to any job. Should any of the campers desire to be a firefighter, though, they said they will be delighted.
Rogers said she remembers the first time she wanted to be a firefighter. At the age of 14, her grandfather passed away in a car accident, and she has a vivid memory of the emergency responders who arrived at the scene.
“[The firefighters] went to work immediately, helping him, and they went to work immediately comforting my family,” Rogers said. “And so for me, that day just kind of stood out. So, for me, that just really set a fire in me to know that these are the most helpful people there are.”
She added that she’s grateful for the first responders who have motivated her in her profession, and she hopes to be an inspiration to this group of girls at this year’s camp.
“If I’d have had this camp when I was this age,” Rogers said. “I would have gotten [into] the fire service at 18, the day I could have.”
She loves every day of her job. During camp, the girls gained knowledge in car wreck extractions, hose handling, tool and equipment use, EMS skills and water rescues.
Out of 115 fire personnel at the Apex Fire Department, only six are females.
Camp Ignite was a joint effort of the Cary, Apex and Morrisville Fire Departments.
Female firefighter camps also exist in other areas across the state, including Charlotte, Chapel Hill and Greensboro.