Camp Embers, the brainchild of Fire Chief Tiffany Green, opened for its inaugural summer camp. The two-day camp was open to girls ages 14 to 18 residing in Prince George’s County or who have a family member who is a firefighter. For its first year, the camp welcomed 30 girls that were ready for the challenge.
Chief Green, the first woman Chief and the first Black woman Chief in Prince George’s County saw the camp as an opportunity to encourage girls to consider a career in fire service. Growing up in Prince George’s County, Chief Green didn’t know anyone who was a firefighter. After having, as she put it, stumbled into fire service as a volunteer in Oxon Hill, that feeling didn’t go away and in 1999 she began her career. Chief Green worked her way up the ranks and in 2022 became Fire Chief.
Chief Green believes one of the limitations of women in the fire service is they do not see themselves in the profession. Camp Embers provided an answer to that by surrounding the girls with leaders and firefighters showing them that although the job is demanding, women can do the job.
Chief Green summed it up this way, “Although it’s physically demanding women do this job successfully every single day. They save lives.”
The camp was held at the Fire and EMS Training Facility in Cheltenham, Maryland, where rookie firefighters are trained. Campers were provided with all the necessary gear and participated in some of the same drills that rookie firefighters would perform. The campers were guided through drill stations that included using an ax, breaching a door, handling a hose line, performing CPR, climbing the fire truck ladder to enter a high-rise building, using a chainsaw, vehicle extraction, and search and rescue. All of this was done wearing gear that at times weighed nearly 70 lbs.
At the end of the camp, campers were treated to a completion certificate, a ribboned journal, and a swag-box. Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, the first woman to serve in her position in Prince George’s County, provided remarks to the campers.
Alsobrooks noted she was very impressed with the girls handling the challenges of the program. She went on to say the all-girls program was designed to show young women around the County what it takes to join the fire department and to inspire a path for young leaders, adding she was “Prince George’s proud” of all the campers.
The Prince George’s County Fire Department is hiring 80 plus firefighters beginning this month. The department’s first recruit from the upcoming hirings may be coming from Camp Embers.
Eighteen-year-old Alexis Morales submitted her application and has her fingers crossed that she will be accepted.
Kyndall Hardy, a 15-year-old camper whose mother is a firefighter, said going through the camp made her appreciate firefighters more. She said the hardest part was probably the hose drill, having to run up the house, shoot water from the window at the target while being timed. To add just a little more pressure, she had to put the uniform on within one minute.
“I didn’t think it would be so much work … I can’t imagine how much my mom does working here,” Kyndall said, adding that the camp sparked her interest and she now has plans to apply to the academy when she turns 18.
For information on Camp Embers, call 240-508-1773 or email campembers@co.pg.md.us.