Allan Hancock College hosts 1st annual Women’s Fire Camp
LOMPOC, Calif. -- Allan Hancock College (AHC) Hosted its 1st annual Women's Fire Camp at the Public Safety Training Complex in Lompoc on Saturday.
The goal was to expose young women to the day in the life experience with real life simulations. Participants who registered ranged from 14 to 30-years-old. They trained from 9 am to 5 pm, on engines, hose handling, ladders and much more.
The current fire industry in the nation is 90% male driven, Fire Technology Coordinator, John Cecena, said AHC hopes to motivate more women to join the field.
"We want the community to see especially young girls to be able to see firefighters that are female so that they can aspire to do the same thing into the future. And that's what we're trying to do here today is, is to encourage future generations of female firefighters," said Cecena.
Crystal Hurless is a trainee was accepted to the upcoming AHC Fire Academy. She said women can bring a different perspective.
“Men and women are so different and diverse, can do the same things, but women can provide maybe a more nurturing approach, situations or just a different perspective. So I think it's awesome to have both sexes in the field," said Hurless.
Cecena said females are needed to respond to different emergency scenarios.
“We respond to emergencies, thousands of emergencies every day across the United States. And they're not all two men and many of those emergencies are two women. And women may be more receptive to treatment or care from another woman in certain situations. So we want to as a fire service, we want to try to match our demographic that we're serving," said Cecena.
