Camp LIFT teaches young girls that becoming a firefighter can be real career option

A group of girls in Northumberland County are breaking barriers at the Colborne Fire Hall through Camp LIFT- Ladies in Firefighter Training. The three day camp runs from Wednesday, August 22 to Friday, August, 24.

“The reality is that this is still a job where women are very much the minority in the fire services, so I’m not 100 per cent in the statistics but I believe the last I heard it was approximately within Ontario about three or four per cent are women,” said Sheri Fisher, the chair of Camp LIFT.

In its second year, the camp was created to show girls that becoming a firefighter can be a real career option and to teach them lifelong skills. The camp is run by a the Camp Lift Committee, a group of 8 who all firefighters at the Colborne Fire Station.

“We put it together for girls ages 11 to 13 for Northumberland County to be able to come and learn about fire services, learn about what it’s all about, expose them to different options that maybe they wouldn’t have considered as far as career paths,” said Fisher.

This summer, Reagan Purdy, 13, returned to the camp for the second time.

“I really wanted to learn about fire and firefighting and how they did everything and last year was really fun,” said Purdy.

Purdy says she would recommend this camp to other girls.

“I think they really should join because it really built up my confidence and this year I’ve been working on my eye contact. I find that I’ve been making more eye contact with all the people here,” said Purdy.

The girls are performing tasks to work on teamwork, problem-solving, leadership, and critical thinking. Some activities include, pulling ropes, building birdhouses, balancing on small pieces of wood, and games to familiarize them of the fire truck, to name a few.

The girls will receive completion certificates during a graduation ceremony on Aug. 24 to wrap up camp.

If you would like to learn more about Camp LIFT or sign someone up next year you can visit the Crahame Firefighters social media page for updates.