Girls on Fire - Rekindled
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Jason F. Knecht, Assistant Fire Chief, Altoona Fire Department
Altoona, WI - The Altoona Fire Department Explorer Post 800 and the Chippewa Valley Technical College Fire/Medic program has teamed up to present Girls on Fire - Rekindled.
This program started this evening at the Altoona Emergency Services Building located at 1904 Spooner Avenue. There are 15 girls, ages 14-17 enrolled in this program from all over the Chippewa Valley in this 4 day summer camp. Girls on Fire - Rekindled is the second year program, a continuation of last year's camp Girls on Fire. This program was such a success last year that this year the students became members of the Altoona Fire Department Explorer Post 800, a division of the Boy Scouts of America, which provided more training opportunities. The second year program builds on basic skills and team building they learned from last year.
This camp gives our young ladies of the Chippewa Valley an opportunity to experience the Firefighter/Paramedic career with real life practical exercises using the actual equipment used for these tasks. In the past 15 years, the number of women in the fire service nationwide has been only about 4% of the workforce. It is the hope that with this program, it will introduce more women into the fire service to increase that number for career, paid-on-call, and volunteer employment opportunities.
This program exists entirely through the generous donations of supporters throughout the Chippewa Valley and the State of Wisconsin.
The Girls on Fire - Rekindled camp will be doing real life scenario based training regarding all aspects of water rescue at the Lake Altoona Beach area on Friday, August 1st from 8 am to 5 pm. Media is welcome to observe and interview campers. We will be running a real time scenario in the afternoon starting around 3 pm. From there they will be in classes all day on Saturday, August 2nd which relates to the Emergency Medical Services and patient care.
Any questions, please contact Assistant Fire Chief Jason Knecht of the Altoona Fire Department at 715-215-3425.
  
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