At this summer camp, you dangle out of a 6th-story window. You climb a hundred feet in the air. You rip apart cars. You drag bodies and you tame flames!
Perfect for a 16 year old girl, right?
That's exactly what they say at Camp Blaze, a camp where 16 to 19 year old girls learn from the pros how to fight fires.
"It gives them the confidence they would never have any other way. No one really is gonna take them and say, 'Hey let's go cut up a car!' Nobody's gonna say, 'Let's go climb a 106 foot aerial ladder.' No one's gonna say, 'Hey let's go jump out a window'" Or have access to that. And this is a way they can do things they've never done before," says Camp Blaze Commander Penny Stone.
Mia Garcia says she was shy just a few days ago.
"I was a little worried. Y'know, you gotta be strong. You have to be able to put up with heat. Not anymore. I'm not worried about that. I got this!"
Now she's breaking car windows, wielding an axe and the jaws of life.
Amina Saleh was a camper here 11 years ago. Now she's a counselor and a member of the Seattle Fire Department.
"I had never met a female fire fighter. So in my mind, this job didn't exist for me.My parents said what did you do to her? She wants to be in charge of everything now. She wants to be a leader. This camp gives young women a chance to realize that they can be firefighters. They can actually be anything they want."
Camp Blaze is in August in Bellevue. It is a non-profit camp run by firefighters who volunteer their time.
