The first woman to take on a full time firefighting role in Kelowna starts Monday.

Until the yet-to-be named woman starts work next week, the number of women employed locally as structural firefighters sits at zero, though there are two paid-on-call firefighters. There are also two women working as firefighters at the airport, which isnsa国际传媒檛 the citysa国际传媒檚 jurisdiction.

Only 30 of 500 candidates that apply for full-time firefighter roles are women, said Rick Euper, fire line safety fire inspector.

Itsa国际传媒檚 not too far off the picture, nationally. A report in 2015 indicated that less than four per cent of Canadasa国际传媒檚 firefighters are women.Fire prevention officer Gayanne Pacholzuk said there is a stigma around firefighting that may prevent women from applying for jobs in the field.

sa国际传媒淚 think the days are gone of being the fastest and the strongest person out there. Theresa国际传媒檚 a lot more to firefighting rather than just the brawn anymore,sa国际传媒� she said.

sa国际传媒淚 am the biggest advocate for women in the fire service and I tell these young girls sa国际传媒榣ook, you just have to be fitsa国际传媒檚a国际传媒� it doesnsa国际传媒檛 mean I have to lift (people) over our shoulders like in the old days.sa国际传媒�

Camps like Camp Ignite, a youth mentorship program for girls, is run by female firefighters in the Lower Mainland focuses on enticing young women into the firefighting service, she said.

In her more than 20 years in the firefighting service, part of which was served as a firefighter at Kelownasa国际传媒檚 airport, she said she never face discrimination.

At an annual firefighting bootcamp that involved local highschool students, there were some who showed that there was an appetite Rutland Senior Secondary student Carlie Dudych hopes to change that number.

sa国际传媒淚 always found it very interesting, I love helping peoplesa国际传媒� itsa国际传媒檚 definitely something I want to do,sa国际传媒� she said. sa国际传媒淚 love being hands on.sa国际传媒�

Dudych is a junior on-call firefighter with the Joe Rich department and said it was exciting to hear the news of a new female firefighter in Kelowna.

She sharpened her skills at the annual firefighter boot camp, which took place Wednesday, April 18 at Station 1 on Enterprise Way. Around 75 Grade 9 to 12 students from across the district, a quarter of them were girls, were given the opportunity to carry a firehose, drag a dummy, scramble a ladder on one of the firetrucks and haul a hose up a three-storey building.

sa国际传媒淲e just donsa国际传媒檛 see it here, theysa国际传媒檙e my family, theysa国际传媒檙e my friends.sa国际传媒�

sa国际传媒淚f they can pass the physical exams and the testing, theysa国际传媒檙e as good as anyone else,sa国际传媒� Euper said.

To report a typo, email: edit@kelownacapnews.com.

carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com
Like us on and follow us on .