Firefighting camp ignites opportunities for young women in Sudbury, Ont.

More than 30 young women between the ages of 15-18 are participating in Sudbury's first ever female firefighting camp this week. 

Camp Molly, a free, four-day camp offering participants an inside look at firefighting as a profession, kicked off at Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda Thursday.

Over the course of four days, the young women perform a variety of firefighting tasks and learn about the various career opportunities within Greater Sudbury Fire Services.  

They will rotate through a series of activities based on Firefighter Level 1 training, such as Fire Investigation and Fire Dynamics, Medical Scenarios, Auto Extrication, Firefighter Survival and Forcible Entry, and more.

The camp's president, Monique Belair, said the program is far more than learning to physically combat fires.  

"If you like program development, public education, public speaking and  social media, then maybe fire prevention or public education is the outlet for you. If you like sciences and physics, maybe fire investigation is something that you want to be interested in."

We need to change the mentality out there that this is still only a career for men.- Monique Belair, President of Camp Molly

Named after Molly Williams, a Black woman who became North America's first female firefighter in New York City back in 1818, the camp is also a chance for local youth to meet strong female role models in the community.  

It was started in southern Ontario a few years ago by Belair, who is now the City of Kingston's Fire Chief and has 36 years of experience in the fire service. 

She wants to show girls by her own example that women can hold higher positions and be successful in the fire service. 

"The statistics of the amount of women in the fire service is dismal!"

According to Belair, of all the professions out there, the fire service has one of the lowest number of females per capita than any other career choice for women. 

She added she is disappointed to see that even after 36 years in the career, there hasn't been any changes to those numbers. 

"We need to change the mentality out there that this is still only a career for men," she said. 

Don Carter, deputy chief of Kingston Fire and Rescue and Camp Molly board member said,  "There's always been a little bit of a stigma that it still is a male dominated profession."

"It's getting better, there are more females coming into the service in all different aspects of the service, but it's still not to the point where I believe it should be".

Carter said he thinks women bring a different perspective to the job.

"We see people at their worst," he added, "and I believe that females actually bring a calming effect to situations like that."

For Emma Tarini and Bryn Simpson, two of the girls participating in the camp, a strong desire to help people is exactly what drew them to firefighting. 

"I want to help people and I feel like it's a really cool job to have because you're on your feet, you're doing physical stuff and you're helping people," Simpson said. 

Tarini added that although she is nervous, she looks forward to the upcoming days at the camp. 

"I've never done something like this before, but I'm excited as well because I'm going to get to experience that and see if this is something I actually like."

Over the next four days, Lisa Webb, a volunteer firefighter in Lively and an instructor at Camp Molly, hopes participants will not only explore areas of firefighting that they previously thought they couldn't, but also enjoy their time at the camp. 

"There's a lot of strong female representation here and you can see yourself reflected in us and just know that you have the skills and ability just like we do."

"Firefighting is awesome," she added. 

"You just get to solve a problem that maybe someone thought was hopeless and you can get there and say it's not hopeless! I've got you! I've got this!"