CHF started as an offhand idea from our Fire Chief at the time Phil Boriskie as he sat in on one of our Sirens meetings. We pondered our dwindling numbers of females firefighters and the dismal returns on traditional recruiting. The 14 original committee members took the ball and ran. Within 3 months with all of our diverse talents and much of our own funding from our pocketbooks we put on the first camp for 21 high school ladies. Of that initial 21, five have begun the steps to being career firefighters. All we did was show them they COULD do it. They took it from there.
It was an outstanding success in no small part to the Fire Department that believed in us, the iron will of the HFD women who organized it, our sponsors and volunteers who had faith in us and donated time and money, and especially the first 21 attendees. They had the most faith of ALL.
It was an outstanding success in no small part to the Fire Department that believed in us, the iron will of the HFD women who organized it, our sponsors and volunteers who had faith in us and donated time and money, and especially the first 21 attendees. They had the most faith of ALL.
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It takes an exceptional person, male and female, to embrace and succeed in a career in firefighting. It is challenging, occasionally frustrating, but infinitely rewarding. Our goals are to reach out and find the very best people to join us. Women have not traditionally considered the fire service as a career. As of 2008 only 4.8% of career firefighters were women. This number is not growing appreciably. We aim to change that. As female firefighters we have traveled the paths many of these young ladies are considering and know how important encouragement is to realize their strengths, motivation to stay on a path for their education, and how critical exceptional role models are. We will provide all that to them and in the process know the girls are taking their experiences and "recruiting" their friends and family to consider the fire service.
