Women’s Firefighting Weekend for Westchester & Orange Counties FD's

[Disaster_Guy 96]

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VALHALLA — Volunteer firefighter Brianna Keesler is determined to show she can keep pace with any “fireman.”

“Girls can do just as much as the guys can at a fire,” said the Mohegan Lake 18-year-old today as she suited up in nearly 100 pounds of gear for a search-and-rescue drill at the county’s fire training center.

She was one of about 20 women who spent the weekend honing their life-saving skills and meeting other female firefighters in the county’s first-ever “Women’s Weekend Hands-on-Fire Training” event.

The two-day program offered refresher courses on vehicle extrications, ladder placements and other skills for women who have completed the “Firefighter 1” level of training or higher.

Organizer Luci Labriola-Cuffe, a fire training coordinator for the county’s Department of Emergency Services and the Armonk fire chief, said the goal is to build confidence in female firefighters.

“Women sometimes get pushed aside on calls, either because the men are being chivalrous or because the women just don’t believe they are physically capable of doing the job,” she said.

“This weekend is meant to show them they can push back.”

The sessions drew female firefighters from Bedford, Croton-on-Hudson, Chappaqua, Pleasantville and Pound Ridge, among other places.

Today, they rotated through the various roles on a ladder truck and an engine company in a search-and-rescue operation — from forcibly entering a building, to searching for people inside, to spraying down the flames and later airing out the smoke.

The drills were conducted inside a two-story, cinderblock building at the training center, complete with smoke machines and propane burners that ignited with the flip of a switch in a nearby control tower.

Jen Pignone, 19, of the Pound Ridge, said one of the hardest parts for her was hauling a heavy hose while simultaneously using her torso to brace the lead firefighter against kickback from the spray.

“You are holding on to that line with your life to keep it in place, and it’s exhausting,” she said. “But the more you practice the better at it you get.”

Port Chester firefighter Cea Fong enjoyed training alongside her female counterparts from other departments.

“You really don’t get to work much with other women much,” she said, “so it’s fun when you do get the rare opportunity to meet.”

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VALHALLA, N.Y. – Nineteen female firefighters from departments across Westchester and Orange counties took part in the first annual, two-day Women’s Firefighting Weekend at the Westchester Fire Training Facility in order to “build confidence in their skills” and develop camaraderie with each other.

Armonk Fire Chief Luci Labriola-Cuffe, who is also a fire training coordinator at the facility, planned the event and said she was “more than happy” about a “real positive experience.”

“The idea was for them to get some networking and also build confidence in their skills so that when they go to a fire scene, they’re more confident in what they’re doing,” said Labriola-Cuffe.

“They can ask quick questions, if they want, without being embarrassed to ask questions. This gives them the ability and the confidence to know that they can do it, so then on a real fire scene, they will do it and they won’t get pushed aside.”

Saturday, which ran from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., consisted of vehicle extrication, hose-line stretches, forcible entry on doors and climbing ladders into buildings. On Sunday, lasting from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., the firefighters took part in live fire scenarios in which they completed search-and-rescues, additional hose-line stretches and extinguished fires.

Firefighter Maureen Hickey from the Pleasantville Fire Department said that it was “definitely a great experience” because she was able to take part in many different drills.

“I’ve never done an extrication before and that’s what we did yesterday,” said the almost two-year firefighter. “So that was definitely a learning experience for me that I definitely want to take more classes in.”

Eileen Sacharewitz, a Bedford Village firefighter for more than two years, was thankful for the confidence she gained this weekend.

“It was a huge confidence builder because I got to do so much more hands-on stuff,” she said of working on vehicle extrication and climbing a ladder into a building for the first time. “The more you come down here, the more comfortable you’re going to get with yourself being in the gear, being on the fire ground and working with others.”

Westchester County Department of Public Safety spokesperson Kieran O’Leary thought that the weekend was “a great experience for the people who came,” but was also hoping it attracted other women to join their local fire departments.

“The primary goal was to encourage women currently in the fire service, but an additional goal that we had for this event is to encourage more women out there to consider the career in the volunteer fire service,” said O’Leary.

Labriola-Cuffe said that given the turnout, “We’ll be able to do it again next year. I know in the future, it’ll get bigger and bigger with word of mouth,” she said.

The participating fire departments were:

Westchester County

Bedford

Sleepy Hollow

Pound Ridge

Pleasantville

Chappaqua

Montrose

Port Chester

Croton

Mamaroneck Village

Mohegan Lake

Orange County

Highland Falls

Goodwill

Walden

Coldenham

[ex-commish 490]

From what I read on Lohud and saw on News12 it appears to have been a sucessful weekend. Great job!

[FFEMT150 214]

One of our Members went down, Said she had a blast! Was also interviewed by News 12.

[Disaster_Guy 96]

More articles about specific FF's:

http://larchmont.patch.com/articles/female-firefighter-in-mamaroneck-village-is-no-damsel-in-distress#photo-9470810

http://www.thedailycortlandt.com/neighbors/cortlandt-women-firefighters-rare-asset