Berkeley Fire holds weekend camp to attract women to the profession
BERKELEY -- The job of firefighter has always been a competitive field but, as departments work to increase their diversity, they're actively trying to recruit more women. On Saturday and Sunday, the Berkeley Fire Department hosted a special camp at its training center to give young women a hands-on demonstration of what the job involves.
"I was definitely not expecting this. I was more expecting, like, a class environment," said Arely Garrido. If the Oakland resident thought she was going to spend the weekend in a classroom, she got a surprise when she found herself dressed in full turn-outs, climbing a 30-foot ladder.
"I got to a point where I started to panic and I was going to stop and I just told myself that I could do it and that I came here for a reason," Arely said.
Garrido was one of three dozen young women invited to "First-In Fire Camp." The purpose was to recruit more women to the fire service but the first challenge was convincing them that they could do it.
"A lot of the firefighers we have here, either their dad or their brother or their uncle did it too," said fire captain Morgan Jacobs-Langois, who grew up watching her mother be a firefighter.
"A lot of times, if you don't physically see it, as a woman, you may not know that that's something you can do," she said. "And that's what we're trying to explore here. It's like, this is doable. These are some of the skills we do, this is how you can practice, this is how you can get better and so it's just the introduction."
That introduction included hands-on instruction in the use of a chainsaw, proper technique for exiting a building onto a ladder, basic emergency medical skills, including CPR and splinting injured limbs. None of it was easy, especially for beginners, but the positive reinforcement from the veteran firefighters -- most of them women -- helped a lot.
"I think the women that are in our fire service go out to do those recruitings and then they see the real-life example. And this is another one where it's a real-life example of them teaching them what to do. And they are getting motivated," said deputy chief Keith May.
London Price seemed pretty motivated. Realizing that she could lug a heavy firehose up and down two flights of stairs may have rekindled a desire to become a firefighter.
"Well, when I was younger I thought about it," she said. "Only because I got hyper-fixated on being a firefighter -- that's gonna be me! And then it died. But now it is me!"
People are drawn to the fire service for different reasons. For Garrido it is a desire to help people in need and that includes her own parents.
"I'm glad I came here. I've learned a lot of things and I've definitely learned that I do want to make this into a career," she said. "It would mean a lot for me but mostly a lot for my parents. Because they came here with nothing and I want to give them everything that they couldn't give me. So this would mean a lot to them. And me, yeah."
Women make up only about 14 percent of Berkeley FD's firefighting ranks. The annual fire camp for women recruits was started in 2017 as a way to create more interest in the profession. The goal is to get more young women into the firefighting academies and camps like "First In" help them understand that they do belong there.
