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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 Womens 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, theyre more confident in what theyre 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 wont 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.
Ive never done an extrication before and thats 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 youre 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 OLeary 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 OLeary.
Labriola-Cuffe said that given the turnout, Well be able to do it again next year. I know in the future, itll 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
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