FLORISSANT, Mo. — There's a push to get more women in the fire service.
A weekend-long camp is allowing women across the St. Louis area to dip their toes into the firefighting world.
Thirty women attended the camp on Saturday that's hoping to fill a void in fire departments everywhere.
It's the first-ever "Fire Up St. Louis Female Fire Camp."
Organizer Kate Freshman, who is a firefighter and paramedic with the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District, said departments across St. Louis County and St. Charles County all came together with one goal in mind.
"I just want them to know that whatever it is they decide to do, they can do it. They are completely stepping outside of their comfort zone and in very vulnerable situations and performing tasks they would never imagine they could do," she said.
For some, like Creve Coeur firefighter Kristen Troup, they're living out their childhood dream.
"I have wanted to be a firefighter since I was 4 or 5 years old. I’ve always known this is what I wanted to do," she said.
For others like Freshman, the desire came a little later.
"It really wasn’t my first career choice. I wanted to be a meteorologist. Then I had to do a career project in high school and my dad’s a firefighter, so I did a ride along with him," she said.
No matter the path though, they all have one thing in common.
"I've always liked helping people and I thought it was an exciting job to get into. I never thought I could be someone that could sit behind a desk," Troup said.
"I just really liked the environment, helping people and being out on your own in these bizarre situations," Freshman said.
A nationwide problem is stopping a key demographic from putting on the uniform though, according to Freshman.
"We do have an extremely low number of women in the fire service overall. When you're out on the street you see firefighters that are men, you don't see firefighters that are women," she said.
Troup said that's why departments across the St. Louis area dedicated this weekend to firing up females.
"I think the main reason we do it is a lot of times women don't think they're capable of doing this job," she said.
Troup and Freshman put the three-day camp together in just four months after getting the idea from a training conference back in September.
"We feel like this will give the women a completely judge-free and empowering environment that they can try out our field and hopefully advance on into the fire service," Freshman said.
The camp consisted of classroom sessions to hands-on experience and put it all together at the end with a housefire simulation.
Troup said they are hoping to change the narrative in their field.
"I actually can’t tell you the number of times we’ll get pulled over in a grocery store or at a school and they’ll be like, 'Are you a firefighter?' The little kids have no idea that's even an option for them," she said.
At the end of the day though, Freshman said, they want to empower women that they are capable of anything.
"It's even more meaningful, to me, that they can take this into their personal life and think, 'Oh if I can do that, then I can accomplish this,'" she said.
The camp goes through Sunday, April 23, and is for women ages 18 to 40.
According to Freshman, they are hoping to make this an annual camp.