Camp FFIT (Female Firefighters in Training) is the flagship camp for Fire Service Women Ontario (FSWO) and was the catalyst for the organization's creation. Ottawa Fire Services developed the camp as a grassroots recruitment tool, one of many outreach activities coordinated to target demographic groups with low applicant rates.
Since the creation of the original Camp FFIT program, many other camps have been developed in Ontario to address recruitment efforts and community engagement priorities. These programs offer a unique introduction to careers in the fire service to young women and many other underrepresented groups, offering a glimpse into this rewarding career’s physical, mental and emotional challenges. Many programs provide evolutions in physical fitness training, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus), and fire ground skills such as ventilation, search and rescue, hose control, proper carrying techniques and use of ladders, extrication, rappelling and tying knots. Introductions to careers in communications/dispatch, fire and life safety education, and fire prevention also form part of the camps.
Camp FFIT was recognized as groundbreaking in Ottawa, winning the City Manager's Award of Excellence, the highest honour bestowed upon a City of Ottawa employee. It was also nominated for a Diversity award, awarded the Mayor's Agent of Change Commemorative Coin, and recognized by the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks, and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO) as part of the award-winning Fire and Paramedic Services Diversity program. For more information about Ottawa’s Camp FFIT, please get in touch with campffit@ottawa.ca.
Fire Service Women Ontario members have helped to support the creation of camps in many other communities. To join our informal network of program planners, please get in touch with FSWO at symposium@fswo.ca.
