Cooperative Living March 2023 - 13

COOPERATIVE FOCUS
Helen " Gracey "
●●●●●●●●
but it's great just to
encourage them that
women can do it as
well, " says Moreno,
operate. The girls get to use a small hose
to spray water on a fire and learn to use
an extinguisher. They also are shown
a mock car crash and the rescue of an
injured person by an all-women crew
of first responders.
Elementary school girls take part in
the first half of the day's events. Older
girls also participate in the second
session, which is focused on EMT work.
They learn about first aid and CPR and,
under heavy supervision, they may get to
use equipment that extracts people from
car crashes, like the " Jaws of Life. "
The Girls' Fire Camp is held in honor
of the late Helen " Gracey " Humbert, a
retired Botetourt Fire & EMS captain
who also worked for Roanoke Fire
EMS. She died in April 2022 after a
long battle with breast cancer.
Lunsford recalls that when she was
a high school student in Botetourt, it
was not widely known that a fire-rescue
career was even available to women.
Whenever she would see fire-EMS
recruiters, they were always men.
" You didn't ever picture yourself in
that position. It was hard to visualize, "
she says. " [Firefighting and EMS services
were] something that were always there
when you needed them, but not
h
d
h
b
something you thought ofas a career. "
Jessica Moreno, a Botetourt resident
and former nurse at Carilion Roanoke
Memorial Hospital, signed up her three
daughters, 9-year-old Raelyn Clark, 11year-old
Jalissa Moreno and 13-year-old
Faith Cramer, for last year's fire camp.
She says there generally aren't a lot of
activities for kids in Botetourt and that
this was an interesting one.
" They don't have to be firefighters,
co-opliving.com
who herself is working on getting a
bachelor's degree in criminal justice
and wants to be an FBI agent.
" They were very excited, " Moreno
says of her daughters. " They thought
they were going to go into a burning
building and put out a fire. I told
them there might be a little fire, like
a demonstration, but it would be
learning and demonstration. "
RECRUITMENT WOES
Nationwide, only 4% of career
firefighters and about 11% of
volunteer fire service personnel are
women, according to the U.S. Fire
Administration, which is part of the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency, known as FEMA.
In Virginia and elsewhere, agencies
are having trouble recruiting and
retaining both men and women,
says Larry Gwaltney,
executive director
of the Virginia State
Firefighters Association.
" Every volunteer
agency that I know
of needs help, " says
Gwaltney, a retired
battalion chieffor
Hampton Fire &
ion
pto
ue.
chieffor
Hampton Fireire &
Rescue.
ofBotetourt Fire &
ag ees
ire
fe
er
nde
in
ChiefiefJason Ferguson
tetou
son Ferguson
his department has seen
fewer and fewer people
ofany gender, interested
in a career as a firefighter
or EMT in recent years.
EMS agrees and says
ha seen
te este
areer as a firefighter
ave so much to
cent
" We have so much to
We
March 2023 ● Cooperative Living ●
11
offer besides just day-to-day emergencies
that we respond to, " he says, adding that
working in the fire-EMS field offers
" a gateway to the healthcare industry. "
" It gives folks a chance to see what
medicine is all about, " Ferguson adds.
" A lot of physicians started as EMTs,
because it really prepares you. "
GOING FOR IT
Laura Kate Jennings-Brink, a
volunteer EMT and now also a volunteer
firefighter with the Read Mountain
Volunteer Fire Department, says
last year's Girls' Fire Camp inspired
(continued on page 12)
A participant of last
year's fire camp
experiences what it
is like to cut through
a car windshield.
" [Firefighting and EMS
services were] something
that were always there
when you needed them,
but not something you
thought of as a career. "
- Taylor Lunsford, recruitment
and retention specialist,
Botetourt Fire & EMS
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living March 2023

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