Fire Service Women of Illinois bring female firefighters together

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — The Illinois Fire Service Institute hosted an event this weekend in Champaign to give female firefighters some hands-on training.

Attendees had three options to pick from, officer training, basic firefighting or auto extraction. Whichever they chose they were sure to leave with more experience than they came with.

“Our goal is to provide training and networking opportunities for female firefighters throughout the state of Illinois,” Fire Service Women of Illinois President Christie Lynch said.

That goal was accomplished today at the Illinois Fire Service Institute. IFSI offered free training for anyone who signed up, thanks to a grant from the Office of the State Fire Marshall.

“Any and all training in the fire service is essential,” Deputy Director of Acedemic Operations Heather Moore said. “It is essential to maintain your relationship with this profession. And the only way to do that is to do to go through classes for education, to do hands on training.”

The institute has offered classroom trainings this year, but for the end of year event, they wanted to make sure they could transfer that knowledge to real situations.

“It’s nice to have it spelled out as to what we’re going to go over,” trainee Katie Knasko said. “It lays the groundwork for what we’re going to do. And then you get to come out here and basically put it into practice.”

“It’s really awesome to be able to put together this group of women across the fire service,” Lynch said. “In general, there’s only 8% of women make up the fire service. So, for us to be able to provide an opportunity to where we can get women together is really important.”

And when these women get together, they are able to help make each other better.

“It is awesome to spend time with other women learning about the tips and tricks that they have because ergonomics are different,” Moore said. “We can accomplish the task, it may just look a little different.”

“I say very often is my limiters are not anything to do with my strength or gender,” Lynch said. “A lot of times it’s my height because I’m short, so I know some different tips and tricks that I can work around to help with those height adjustments.”

According to event organizers, they are looking to hire more people. They say firefighting is a great opportunity for both men and women.

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