The Nassau County Junior Firefighters Association recently held its first Youth Women in the Fire Service Seminar and Training program. Held at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy in Old Bethpage, NY, the program saw 96 young ladies from 34 departments participate in the activities.
“We saw some firefighting training for women in the area, but it was all for adults. There was nothing for the youth,” board chairman of the Nassau County Juniors, Jerry Presta said told Firehouse.com. “We went to the academy and asked if they would be interested in hosting, and they said 'yes.'”
Presta and his team started promoting the event last fall via social media and reaching out directly to local fire departments. The response was overwhelming.
“We really didn't know what kind of response to expect,” Presta said, “but we always had in the back of our head that it might get big, given the turnouts we usually get at our events.”
Presta said they were hoping for at least 50 ladies to attend, because that is the maximum the academy could handle without splitting the attendees up into different classrooms.
“After we hit 50, we reserved the Morrelly Center for the lecture part of the program, so all the girls could be together in one room,” Presta said.
Inspirational speakers
The seminar portion kicked off with a speaker series from some of the most respected female chiefs in New York State.
FDNY Battalion Chief Michele Fitzsimmons, Uniondale Chief Jessica Ellerbe, North Bellmore Chief Kaitlin Bazarewski, West Babylon Chief Christine Manzi and Selden EMS Chief Heather Scally-Bartnik spoke of the challenges of working up through the ranks as a female firefighter.
“Each chief had their own input of how they made their way to the chief's office,” Presta explained. “They were so dynamic, each one brought something different to the podium. The whole time you could hear a pin drop. The girls were glued to their every word. The chiefs spoke of the hurdles and how they overcame them. The biggest thing is they all emphasized that any one of the attendees could one day be standing up on that stage.”
Hands-on training
Next, the attendees moved outdoors for the hands-on training portion of the program, which consisted of four evolutions.
“There were four evolutions—EMS, fire extinguishers, forcible entry and vehicle extrication—and each attendee had their choice of picking two,” Presta reported.
Firehouse.com asked Presta which evolutions were the most popular, and he provided the following breakdown of the attendees’ first choice:
- 32.1 percent chose EMS
- 31.9 percent chose vehicle rxtrication
- 18.6 percent chose forcible entry
- 17.4 percent chose fire extinguishers
“This groundbreaking training exceeded expectations,” Presta said. “This experience will stay with them a long time. There is no doubt that there are future chiefs among those young women who attended. We would like to thank everybody who participated in this event. It was a great day.”
The future
While the program was a huge success, Presta said it may not become an annual event, yet.
“We thought about it, but then again we thought there might not be another turn out like this one if we did it two years in a row,” he said “The board discussed it and came up with the idea of having this event every other year and the in between years we could target another big topic. So, in April of 2025, we are hosting a Junior Firefighter EMS Symposium and Conference. We think that might be even bigger because both male and females have an interest in EMS. In fact, we have already started planning it.”
Steven Shaw | Managing Editor, Firehouse.com
Steven Shaw is the managing editor of Firehouse.com. Shaw served as editorial director of the James H. Neal Award-winning “WTC: In Their Own Words” and “Hot Shots: Spectacular Fire Photos.” He previously served as editor-in-chief of Industrial Photography, The Commercial Image and Studio Photography and Design.
