While their friends were playing soccer or seeing a movie, 40 teenage girls did something extraordinary this weekend. They earned certificates for completing the D.C. Fire Department’s Camp Spark.
Mayra Duran, 16, was one of the dozens of girls hauling fire hoses, moving ladders and learning lifesaving techniques at the D.C. Fire and EMS Training Academy in Southwest.
She said the girls were required to carry something sized similar to a dead body, which was “very heavy,” and “navigate through a maze that was very dark — and it was difficult.”
D.C. Fire Battalion Chief Oluwafunmike Omasere said the two-day camp aimed to spark interest in the fire service among girls, as only 12% of the department is staffed by females today.
“We have a 2030 vision to get 30% of the fire department female by 2030,” she said.
Participants learned CPR, how to stop a bleed, bust down a door and administer Narcan.
“It was such a great experience. … I got to meet new girls, meet firefighters — women firefighters,” 17-year-old Navaeh Burroughs said.
This was the third annual Camp Spark to be held in D.C. The program was sponsored by the D.C. Fire and EMS Department, D.C. Firefighters Local 36, AFGE Local 3721, D.C. Fire and EMS Foundation, D.C.’s Office of Innovation at OCTO and led by DCFD’s Women’s Advisory Council of the department.
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