Nearly a dozen girls from Vernon high schools seized the chance to become a firefighter for the day on Wednesday, when Vernon Fire Rescue Services held its third annual training session that gives females interested in the profession some hands-on experience.
The day-long training session was led by Lt. Allyson Reich, who is the only female firefighter in the Vernon department’s 100-plus year history.
Reich said it would be great if any of the 11 Grade 10 students who took part in the training day went on to become firefighters, but even if none of them do, she said she’s happy if she can light a fire under them.
“As long as they can come away from today with the confidence to pursue whatever they’re passionate about, that’s really the goal of today,” Reich said.
Students Cadie Hayward and Allie Westhaver both said they were inspired to take the training because of personal experiences they’ve had in which firefighters came to the rescue.
Westhaver said she was drawn to the opportunity after seeing the White Rock Lake wildfire encroach on her neighbourhood off Westside Road in Killiney Beach in 2021.
“I was hoping that maybe one day this could lead me into learning how to fight fire and defend my neighbourhood,” she said.
Hayward joined the firefighter training day after recalling a serious car accident she was involved in when she was young.
“The firefighters who came out and helped us really had an effect on me and my siblings,” she said. “I want to be there to help.”
Both students said midway through the training day that they will consider firefighting as their future career. They added that getting to use the fire hose and going 110 feet in the air on the ladder truck were highlights of the day.
Reich said there is a pressing need for firefighters, male or female, across the province, whether it’s for the BC Wildfire Service, or municipal or rural firefighting.
According to Reich, there is ample opportunity for women to become firefighters, but it’s not often that young women see themselves in the field because there are so few female firefighters like herself to look up to.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” she said. “If people don’t know that there’s a female in the fire service, typically little girls wouldn’t think that they could do that.”
Reich said she’s glad to be able to represent women in the field and serve as an inspiration for girls to enter a male-dominated profession.
“You can have male nurses, you can have male teachers, you can have female firefighters, it doesn’t matter. You’ve just got to have the right heart for the job.”
Reich has been with the Vernon fire department for 19 years, but this time next year she’ll be retired from the profession. However, she’s heartened by the fact that another woman is being hired, who will take up the mantle of Vernon’s only female firefighter.
After hanging up her firefighting helmet, Reich won’t be sitting idly. She’s currently completing a masters degree in counselling psychology to become a counsellor, with a focus on helping firefighters and other emergency responders overcome occupational stress and PTSD.
“I think there’s something to be said for lived experience,” she said, reflecting on how her experience as a firefighter will help her in her next career pursuit.
“Emergency responders are the ones that want to help you on your worst day, and it’s really hard for them to sometimes have to ask for help. To be able to have that lived experience and be able to offer them that support and walk alongside them in their time of need is something that I know will be immensely rewarding.”
Reich said even though she’s retiring, she’ll continue to come back to the station and hold more female firefighter training days.
“As long as they’ll have me, I’ll keep coming back year after year to help out to do this,” she said. “This is just the beginning.”
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