1 / 3

Women participate in a training exercise during a recruitment workshop for female firefighters in Provo on Saturday, August 3, 2024.

Courtesy of Natalie Grover, UVU Marketing

2 / 3

Women participate in a training exercise during a recruitment workshop for female firefighters in Provo on Saturday, August 3, 2024.

Courtesy of Natalie Grover, UVU Marketing

3 / 3

Women participate in a training exercise during a recruitment workshop for female firefighters in Provo on Saturday, August 3, 2024.

Courtesy of Natalie Grover, UVU Marketing

❮ ❯

More than two dozen women, some as young as 18, now have a taste of what it’s like to work as an emergency medical technician.

As part of Utah Valley University’s Fire Recruit Candidate Academy (RCA) Program, a division of UVU’s Department of Emergency Services, 30 participants attended the second annual Women Firefighter Recruitment Workshop held earlier this month with the goal of encouraging women to pursue careers in public safety and firefighting.

During the one-day event, active Utah firefighters conducted hands-on training where participants learned various drills and firefighting skills and participated in fitness tests and lecture-based discussions with former academy graduates and experienced firefighters, a university news release said.

Active female firefighters from across Utah were selected as volunteer instructors, with participants coming from a variety of backgrounds.

“Women are needed in our fire departments because they bring different skills and life experiences to a profession traditionally held by men,” Brooke Savage, a firefighter AEMT with the South Davis Metro Fire Service who recruited some of the instructors, said in the release. “I have seen firsthand how the presence and approach of female firefighters has had a positive impact on various patients, including medical calls from pregnant women. Women are stronger and more capable than they may think.”

According to organizers, the workshop will provide women with the opportunity to showcase their firefighting potential and will ultimately help increase the number of women in the firefighting community. After completing the training day, participants will be encouraged to apply what they have learned to a career in the fire and emergency services, the press release said.

“We want to show women that they belong in this community and this profession and that they are just as talented as anyone else,” said Andy Byrnes, a professor in the Department of Emergency Services, in the press release. “This workshop is designed to give women the confidence they need to pursue a career as a firefighter.”

According to the National Fire Protection Association’s 2022 statistical profile results, less than 10% of firefighters are women and most of them are volunteers.

According to UVU, the fire service workshop, which is reserved exclusively for women, helps to make the profession more inclusive.

The workshop is already bearing fruit by providing participants with experience and encouragement. Six former participants hold full-time positions in the fire service and have found the workshop helpful in further building their careers, the university’s press release said.

According to the UVU Recruit Academy website, a trainee is prepared for fire service and is ready for work in about 15 weeks.

Newsletter