Yarmouth Fire Department having trouble recruiting women
Preston Mulligan | CBC News | Posted: August 24, 2017 10:30 AM | Last Updated: August 24, 2017
Fire chief says it's possible some potential applicants felt intimidated by long application process
The Yarmouth Fire Department is having a difficult time getting female volunteers.
Chief John Verrall started a recruitment campaign in early April, and while more than 60 people visited the station, only three people were seriously interested in volunteering — one woman and two men. The department was hoping to attract 25 new recruits.
"It was a shocker to us. We couldn't believe it," Verrall said.
Speeding up response times
Verrall wants more women to volunteer so the department will better represent the general population.
"Fire departments have to serve the public," Verrall said. "And the best way to serve the public is to have the fire department mimic the public around you."
He said the department also needs more firefighters in order to speed up response times.
Verrall said if a house fire broke out in his region, he wants 10 firefighters on scene within 10 minutes. That's not right happening now.
Staff in his office are going through the names of everyone who picked up an application during the recruitment campaign. They plan to make some followup calls to find out why those who were interested never applied.
"I'm hoping that it's an error on my part somewhere," Verrall said.
Onerous application process
It could be the onerous application process.
Each applicant must fill out his or her personal info, a medical form must be filled out by a doctor, an eye doctor must vouch for the applicant's vision and there's also a criminal background check.
It's also possible, Verrall said, some potential applicants felt intimidated.
Verrall says there are still members of his fire crew who don't believe women can do the job.
Online sexism, negativity
"A lot of these people who are saying, 'Oh, look how small they are. They wouldn't be able to carry a person out of a house,' well, those people don't know what firefighting is," Verrall said.
Verrall says he was surprised by some of the online comments he saw.
"You wouldn't believe some of the things that are being said on Facebook," Verrall said.
None of it surprised one of Yarmouth's six female firefighters, Danica Johnson.
Johnson is well aware of the sentiment.
The time factor
Johnson describes herself as petite but at her most recent major fire call two months ago, she found herself at the nozzle end of the hose for four hours beating down the flames during a house fire.
The work is manageable, she says. The major barrier to recruitment, she believes, is the time commitment.
"Just maybe the overall first-year time commitment of learning your Level One. That may turn people off," Johnson said.
"But it's very important that if you're going to become a firefighter that you do get the proper training."