Sarah Brown
Samantha Mitchell says she doesn’t have a lot of friends, but she shared a summer weekend with her closest one – Lacey Wilson –dressed in heavy fire gear, learning what it takes to save lives.
Mitchell and Wilson, of Sweet Home, were among the 21 girls who participated in the inaugural Linn County Young Women’s Fire Academy at the Lebanon Fire District headquarters last weekend.
Mitchell practically grew up at the Sweet Home Fire Department, she said. Her mom, who often took her children to watch Burn to Learns, volunteers on the fire department’s financial board.
Now Mitchell is considering a career in fire fighting or working in the U.S. Forest Service. She has also always been interested in medical work.
“I’m trying to figure out what I want to do right now,” she said. “When I found out this was happening, I jumped onto the opportunity to do it.”
She’s still got a little bit more time to figure that out. The 16-year-old has two more years left at Sweet Home High School, and will then go to college to study forestry.
The free, two-day fire academy was open to women aged 16 to 19 years old who might be interested in pursuing a career in firefighting or related field, or just wanted to try it for fun.
As many as 22 female firefighters from across Oregon-Clackamas, Tualatin Valley, Mount Angel, Albany, Sweet Home, Lebanon, Turner, Scio and Sublimity – volunteered their weekend to train the girls how to gear up, use the hose, suppress a fire, enter a building forcibly, create ventilation, and perform the Denver Drill and search and rescue. Resumé building and interview skills were also taught.
Lt. Erin Nunes of the Lebanon Fire District said the inaugural academy exceeded her expectations.
“Just to see the girls, when they first came in and they were kind of shy and timid, and to see where they are today – they’re confident and they’re having fun and they’re bonding. That’s exactly what we were looking for.”
The academy gave the girls a good idea of what firefighting entails, Nunes said, but even if they don’t pursue it as a career, the skills they learned will help them in whatever path they choose.
Nunes said she intends to hold the academy every year.
This year’s was a hot weekend, and some aspects of the training were hard, but none of it discouraged Mitchell.
“I’m not afraid to get muddy or sweaty, and I’m not scared to get bruises or anything,” she said. “I grew up on a farm. When you grow up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, you learn to accept that stuff.”