Camp Courage fires up young women about careers as first responders
Young women excited about policing, firefighting and paramedicine learn ‘it's OK to do what you want to do'
Hannah Colwell, 17, spent one of the last days of her summer vacation a little differently than your average teenager: dressed in heavy firefighting gear and sawing off a car door to save someone.
Colwell was trying to rescue a "victim" in the wreckage of a mock drunk-driving crash in Saint John — and she wasn't the only one.
The recent St. Malachy's High School graduate is one of 12 young people who responded to the simulated crash to cap off their time with a first-responder training camp, offered as an expansion of a similar Nova Scotia program run by the non-profit Camp Courage, The First Responder Society.
The four-day camp, which took place at the Saint John Fire Department's training site, was designed to introduce female and gender-diverse individuals between 15 and 19 to traditionally male-dominated first-responder fields.
"It felt right," Colwell said after the crash simulation. "It felt like what I should be doing, I should be helping people."
Participants at Camp Courage were introduced to the basics of policing, firefighting and paramedicine — with hands-on activities such as basic police defence techniques, CPR, breaking windows with axes and vehicle extraction.
"We got to try on the [firefighting gear] and stuff," Colwell said. "So we just started with breaking glass and opening up the cars and saving the victims."
While Colwell played the role of a firefighter in the mock crash on the final day, others were filling the roles of paramedics and police officers.
Camp organizer Leah Robichaud said the pilot program was intended to show young women, girls and gender-diverse young people that first-responder careers are accessible to them.
"Fire in particular is one that just historically has been seen as more of a man's career," she said.
Robichaud said the physicality associated with the fire service may cause some hesitancy in potential female applicants — a hesitancy she hopes the camp addresses in a low stakes, low-commitment atmosphere and taught by primarily by women already successful in the fields.
"I think just introducing the girls to other females that are doing this, [who have] gone through the full process, and showing them that it really is possible, if it's something that they're interested in."
Robichaud herself works as an analytics manager with the Saint John fire department, where only three of the firefighters are women.
Opening eyes to possibilities
One of the camp instructors, JoAnn Haugh, is a paramedic and Saint Andrews-based volunteer firefighter. She said the camp is about introducing young women to the possibility of working as a first responder but also about changing perceptions.
"Even if they don't end up going off to have a career as a first responder, hopefully it will just open their eyes to the possibilities that are out there and just empower them to take a chance," she said.
What stood out to both Haugh and Robichaud was the excitement of the young participants as they battled a machine that spouted a wall of flame or made their way through the smoky training tower — exercises meant to show the participants what dealing with an active fire looks and feels like.
"None of the girls were like, 'Oh, I don't know if I could do that," Haugh said. "They wanted to be hands on."
They were also eager when the trainers asked for volunteers. "Definitely more than one of them put their hand up quickly to go first," Robichaud said.
Wanting to see diverse perspectives in field
While participants came primarily from New Brunswick, the program was also open to out-of-province applicants, if space allowed.
Julia Ongaro, who has wanted to be a first responder since she was a child, made the trip from Langely, B.C. She, like Colwell, also recently decided firefighting is the path for her, an aspiration fuelled by forest fires in areas surrounding her city.
"It just didn't feel right just being at home not being able to do anything about it," Ongaro said.
"And really, it leaves like a spot in your heart … so I wanted to be able to try and help."
To Ongaro, this was an opportunity to get an up-close look at what a career in firefighting might look and feel like.
"It was definitely a little bit nerve-wracking, just because you feel the heat. But then the adrenalin just kind of starts going," she said.
"All I could think about was honestly just like going back to it. I didn't know how I was going to respond to it because I had never been put in that position."
Ongaro said the prospect of working in a field dominated by males is also "nerve-wracking" to her, but she sees value in making the field more diverse.
"I think it is important to have both of the genders of course there because you learn differently from each person, and each male and woman have different perspectives on how they see things.
"I'd say now that I see all the females here, it is definitely a stress relief knowing that there are women here. It's not just males, it's women too."
Colwell said that seeing women in first-responder careers can show young people that these careers are accessible to them.
"It's OK to do what you want to do and don't be scared."
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