It was the second annual graduation ceremony for the participants of Camp LIFT.
Camp LIFT stands for Ladies in Firefighter Training and a group of girls ages 11-13 did just that from Wednesday to Friday at the Colborne Firehall.
“We give them the opportunity to experience what it would be like to be a firefighter,” said Chair of Camp LIFT, Sherry Fisher.
“We really try to build up working as a team, communication, leadership. Valuable skills that regardless of the career path they choose, they would be transferrable.”
A number of women speakers were brought to speak about their careers that might somewhat be still considered non-traditional.
“Just expose them to the options, so they know they are out there and that they are a possibility.”
The first day was orientation, team building activities and communications along with home escape plans. Most of the day two dealt with CPR training. On Friday, the participants dealt with search and rescue, types of fires and how to identify them and how to use a fire extinguisher on a live fire.
The motto for the Camp is “Light the fire within” and just before graduation, each participant extinguished an actual fire.
Cramahe Township Fire Department has five woman on their department and extremely proud of that, “but I would say more importantly it’s those inner-personal skills the girls are going to gain from the Camp is the biggest goal we want for the girls.”
Just before graduation in front of family members, a simulated call came through the fire service and members of Camp LIFT responded doing CPR on a victim and treated an injured person.
The White Helmet Award which is voted on by peers in Camp LIFT was for the person they thought displayed excellence in leadership. The award went to Zoey Williams and was presented by Cramahe Township Fire Chief Brandon Northrup and Cramahe Township Mayor Marc Coombs. Zoey’s father, Steve is a member of the Cramahe Township Fire Department.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
