A camp that aims to empower female youth by exposing them to the challenging career of firefighting lands in Greater Victoria halls this weekend.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not trying to make firefighters,鈥� explains Debra Rogers, who created the camp in 2022.
The goal is to allow the 31 girls from Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Sunshine Coast to test themselves in safe and inclusive spaces, albeit ones where they remain underrepresented.
鈥淭his opens up new avenues to them, they can consider other non-traditional types work,鈥� the president of Island Ignite Mentorship Society added.
Selected by a four-member board that includes firefighters, the girls pay only to get themselves to the zero-cost camp that runs July 11 to 13 this year.
Each is sponsored by her local fire department or other agency. Rogers admits Vancouver Island has a lot of paid-on-call departments that can be challenged finding the $300 to fund a youth but often find a way. Those sponsorships are augmented with private donor funding, fundraising and grants.
The camp itself rotates through available fire departments. Hosts this year include Langford Fire, Victoria Fire, and CFB Esquimalt Fire.
The campers are exposed to all the firefighting skills and drills, things such as breathing apparatus use, fire attack and rappelling,
Set up in stations of rotation each day, the activities start soft and finish with things like cutting into cars and working on charged lines.
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