The Greensboro Fire Department is hosting a weeklong Camp Spark this summer that gives high school women hands-on exposure to firefighting skills, leadership training and career pathways in a profession where women remain underrepresented.
Hands-on training, leadership focus
Dozens of campers rotated through practical stations that mirrored real-world emergency tasks: vehicle extrication drills, rappelling from a structure and other tactical exercises designed to teach teamwork, situational awareness and confidence. The camp is led by female firefighters who serve as instructors and role models.
- Camp format: Weeklong, interactive summer program hosted by Greensboro Fire Department.
- Instruction: Led by female firefighters and senior staff offering technical skills and mentorship.
- Goal: Build a pipeline of women interested in firefighting and public safety careers in the Triad.
“You are wanting them to step beside of you. So we try to encourage them and build them up to get to where we’re at, or even be able to be like, hey, you know what? That’s what I want to do. This, the job I want to do, and these are the steps I have to take to get forward to it.”
Camp organizers emphasize that the program aims not only to teach technical skills but also to remove psychological barriers for young women considering the fire service. Participants said the experience reinforced that women belong in roles traditionally dominated by men and gave them practical exposure to duties they might perform on the job.
Why this matters locally and statewide
The National Fire Protection Association estimates that women make up about 9% of the nation’s firefighters. Increasing female representation in the fire service is a stated objective for many departments that face recruitment and retention challenges. For Greensboro and Guilford County, cultivating a more diverse applicant pool could strengthen emergency response capacity and better reflect the community the department serves.
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| National female firefighter share | ~9% (NFPA estimate) |
| Camp features | Free, weeklong program; hands-on stations; female-led instruction |
Local benefits extend beyond recruitment. Programs like Camp Spark offer career exploration for high school students, improve public understanding of fire department roles, and can help identify future candidates who already have basic skills and a familiarity with departmental culture. For North Carolina, growing diverse recruitment pipelines helps rural and urban departments alike address staffing shortfalls and adapt to evolving emergency needs.
Greensboro also runs a parallel program for high school boys called Camp Blaze, signaling a broader department effort to engage young people across the community. Officials say the hands-on format and visible mentoring by current female firefighters are central to Camp Spark’s mission to expand opportunities for women in the field.
As the department continues the sixth year of Camp Spark, organizers hope a steady flow of young women who graduate from the program will translate into expanded hiring pools and a gradual shift in the demographic makeup of fire services in the Triad and across the state.
