Every year, Oregon girls aged 14-19 gather in Lebanon, Oregon, a rural community in Linn County, for a weekend to learn what it’s really like to be a female firefighter. The Linn County Young Women’s Fire Academy introduces girls to experiences ranging from putting out a car fire to doing search and rescue. They throw ladders, learn basic emergency medical skills, and even start an IV on dummies. “The days are packed,” said Erin Nunes, who is the Battalion Chief for the Lebanon Fire District and also the founder of the program. The girls are broken up into small groups during activities, each of which is led by a female firefighter who knows what it’s like to work in a career where women are still severely underrepresented.
“There’s a small number of us but we bring a lot to the table,” Nunes said. Nationwide, the number of female firefighters is only about nine percent—an increase from previous decades. “A significant number of girls grow up not realizing this is an option for them,” Nunes explained. When she was young there was nothing on TV or in her life that indicated this was a career path open to women. In 2017, Nunes visited a similar program for young women in Portland and knew she wanted to start something like it in Lebanon. The Young Women’s Fire Academy had its first year in 2018 with 24 girls enrolled in the course. The program will have its sixth year in 2026.
With dry conditions and wildland fires becoming more common, the need for firefighters is greater than ever even as the number of people entering the field has fallen. While medical professionals are paid for their work, there’s a long history of firefighting as a volunteer profession. About half of the national population lives in places served by a volunteer fire department. In Oregon, 94-percent of people are served by entirely volunteer or a combination of volunteer and paid fire departments. “We’re seeing fewer community members (that have other jobs) come and volunteer,” Nunes said, a trend that’s true nationwide.
This results in more work for the volunteers who are left, leading to higher rates of burnout. But firefighters—both paid and volunteer—are desperately needed to keep Oregon communities safe. Introducing the possibility to young women, who are already underrepresented, is an important step in raising these numbers. The Fire Academy also offers spots to girls from Oak Creek Correctional Facility, expanding access to youth who face even more limited exposure to career opportunities.
Since the program began, Lebanon Fire District has hired two young women who completed the program, Nunes said. Others have become volunteers in Lebanon as well as surrounding departments.
by bringing in so many diverse female firefighters and other first responders to instruct the Fire Academy, it’s helped build relationships between female firefighters all over the state that didn’t exist before. Nunes shared she’s on several text threads where women share resources about, for example, new methods to throw a ladder that are easier for smaller bodies.
“The first fire academy I went through, I was the only girl,” Nunes said. “There were all these big tough guys and I was so intimidated and felt I had to prove myself over and over and not show any weakness.” At the Fire Academy, the girls can try things and fail and ask questions in a supportive environment.
Some participants will go into firefighting and others will discover another path that’s a better fit. Either way, Nunes wants every participant to know firefighting is a career opportunity for them. A grant from the Roundhouse Foundation helps keep the program as well as food and supplies free for all participants.
As fire departments continue to face staffing shortages, programs like this one are welcoming the next generation of firefighters while making sure young women see themselves represented in a profession where every person who joins—full-time or as a volunteer—makes a critical difference in their community.
