Vernon female high school students become firefighters for a day

Vernon female high school students traded their backpacks for turnout gear Wednesday as they became firefighters for a day.

“This was an opportunity to just feel it out and see if that's what I want to do,” said student, Kiara Haddow.

The event involved students operating fire hoses, ride around in a fire truck, and learn how to operate the jaws of life.

“Many of the students were quite surprised to see how diverse our job is. It's not just fighting fires, it's responding to medical calls and alarms,” said Vernon Fire Rescue Services Cpt. Allyson Reich.

This program was started by VFRS four years ago. Reich hopes the event can inspire young women to get into the profession.

“It's easy for male students to identify with a male firefighter. It's pretty rare for females to see female firefighters. So that's why we started it,” said Reich.

The students told Castanet the program is challenging, but it showed them what a career in fire rescue is all about.

“It's giving like an actual experience of what it's like to be an actual firefighter in the career,” said student Sofia Keyes.

A second day of training will happen tomorrow for high school males interested in fire rescue.