20 young women from the London area are getting their chance to show their stuff at the female firefighters in training camp hosted by the London fire department. The week long intensive camp is taking place at firehouse nine on Wellington road.
the camp in in its second year and is aimed to help diversify the fire department here in London. In a press release about the camp, deputy chief of the London fire department David Lazenby says that “only 3 or 4 women may apply [to be firefighters] out of a total of 300 applicants.”
while this camp is focused on the physical and mental aspects of being a fire fighter, there is much more that the participants can take away.
“The young ladies in the program have started to network themselves…so whether or not the go into firefighting, at least they have made new friends that they can connect with” says camp coordinator Allison Vickered.
Vickered has been with the London fire department for 9 years and says the experience of setting up the camp has been phenomenal. “seeing how much the participants take away from the program is really quite fulfilling”
the camp comes from a similar project in Ottawa that has been active for over a decade
