Applications open for OKCFD’s Camp Inferno

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The future of firefighting is proving to be female.

Over the past ten years, the Oklahoma City Fire Department said the number of women on the job has soared. Now, they’re looking to get more interested through Camp Inferno.

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Oklahoma City Fire Lt. Jessica White has been a firefighter for about a decade.

“Whenever I first started with Camp Inferno, there was only a handful of women on Oklahoma City,” said White.

Now, that number has grown to roughly 30 women fighting fires.

“It’s grown immensely,” said White.

The goal of Camp Inferno, a non-profit, is to encourage, educate, and empower women interested in the profession. White said many women go on to become career firefighters.

“If women have just like the slightest interest in maybe becoming a firefighter, we can they can we can put them in gear, have them start chainsaws, have them pull hand lines,” said White. “The live fire is always really fun.”

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The two day camp, at the Oklahoma City Training Center costs around $50. Applications are now open through July 31st.

The weekend camp for women, in October, will be led by women.

“There’s a lot of things that they would have never thought that they could ever do and then they find themselves doing it,” said White.

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