In August, I had the great opportunity to help out for a few days at Camp Fully Involved, a combination of a fire academy and summer camp for teenage girls. Camp Fully Involved is in its second year and was organized by Jess Wyman, a Nashua, New Hampshire firefighter. She was inspired by reading about Camp Inferno in Overland Park, Kansas and decided to attempt to put a similar operation together in New Hampshire. Jess says she wants to "Give young women an opportunity to experience a taste of the fire service--my goal is to facilitate for those who are interested getting into an explorer post or similar programs and further training."

At Camp Fully Involved, cadets get a taste and a feel for what a job in firefighting is really like. In addition to the firefighting and rescue evolutions they participate in, they are also expected to conduct themselves as though they are in a real firehouse. They are expected to clean up after themselves, follow the rules, operate as a team and realize that if one member is weak or failing then the team is weak or failing. Just like the firehouse, different personalities are thrown together and must work together in sometimes trying circumstances to get the job done.

Beginning on August 3rd, twenty two cadets met at the New Hampshire Fire Academy in Concord. They came from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon and Virginia. After lunch, the cadets were assigned roommates, broken into squads, issued identification and accountability badges, instructed on the rules of the fire academy and for the camp.

Cadets attended a class on the history and tradition of the fire service and went through a team building exercise to develop their team flag. They were issued protective clothing and equipment. After dinner they were given a class on the use of self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). SCBA is the most vital piece of protective equipment firefighters use daily on a daily basis. As a reminder that firefighters may be called into action at any moment, the cadets are occasionally rousted from the dorm in the evenings to assemble on the apparatus ramp. Once on the apparatus floor, they were assigned to don their protective clothing and SCBA with the stop- watch running.

On Tuesday evening at 2300hrs, the drill took a more complicated twist. While the cadets were expecting the usual dress and donning drill, once their protective clothing was donned, they instead responded to the training building for a structural collapse. Radio transmissions calling for more resources and reports of multiple victims trapped and a baby crying added to the urgency. At the training tower they were met by instructors who assigned them a floor of the building to search, locate victims and remove the victim to safety.

Kristen Smith, a cadet from near Syracuse, New York was assigned to lead her company into a search for and to rescue any victims on the second floor. On the response from the firehouse to the training tower she began paying attention to the instructions about the seriousness of the situation. As she heard the radio traffic about multiple victims, she began to concentrate on the messages about the locations of the victims. "I began to listen up and some of the locations began to register in my mind" she said.

Her squad was directed into the building and she recalls being "A little nervous and scared. I wanted to make sure I kept accountability for my crew. I remembered from our training the importance of being near the wall."

Her company made a search through several rooms when they found a simulated victim. Working as a team they were able to drag the victim safely to the building exterior.

Other companies found and removed additional victims from other floors and one company faced a "MAY-DAY" situation when one of the crew members became separated from the team in the dark. One crew was able to locate and rescue an infant who was trapped at the end of a small tunnel inside of a search maze.

Tuesday night's drill culminated an already action packed day where cadets rappelled off the side of the tower and made a rescue of other cadets from a window sill in what is commonly called a pick-off. For many of the cadets this was their first time ever wearing a harness and lowering themselves on a rope. Despite a very severe case of nerves for a few, every cadet climbed over the edge and lowered their self to the ground. They also spent the afternoon crawling throughout the building performing searches with hand tools and with thermal imaging cameras.

Cadets were to also attend training in forest firefighting, actual fires in the burn building, vehicle and dumpster fires, use of tools and forcible entry and a combined operations drill on Friday to put everything together.

Camp Fully Involved is a worthy project and provides valuable realistic insight into what a fire service career entails. It also instills some of the very best traits of the fire service for every day use such as team work, confidence and discipline. Regardless of whether any of the cadets ever pursue a career in the fire service, the training and friendships gained here will last a lifetime.

Camp Fully Involved would not be possible without the support and assistance from the sponsors: Barnstable County Fire Chiefs Association who also sponsored a cadet's tuition, Bergeron Protective Clothing, Cape Cod Potato Chips, Fire Instructors and Officers Association of New Hampshire, Heavy Rescue Incorporated, New Hampshire Fire Academy and Northeast Rescue Systems. It also relies completely on the many fire fighters from across New England who volunteered their time and energy to assist, instruct and mentor the cadets.

For further information about the camp and for applications and dates for 2009: www.campfullyinvolved.com

John Cannon is a captain of an engine company in Portland, Maine. He has served for nearly 30 years in the fire service. He currently represents career firefighters on the State Emergency Response Commission and the Maine Fire Protection Services Commission. All columns in the Firetec Connection express the opinions of the author.