"Women in Fire" program to add four women firefighters to Yurok Fire Department

HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. — Only 12% of National Forest firefighters are women. However, thanks to one national program, the Yurok Fire Department is hoping to change that.

Through the national park service’s "Women in Fire" program and the Redwood National Park, the Yurok Fire Department was provided $100,000 to train four Yurok women to become firefighters. The Women in Fire program was first introduced in 2012 to encourage more women to pursue leadership positions in the male-dominated firefighting profession.

"It is the goal of this program to recruit, train and offer exposure to multiple aspects of wildland fire in addition to exposure to the planning and implementation of prescribed fire projects,” said Redwood National Park Fire Management Officer Rick Young. “After completion of this program, the participants will not only be able to compete for a career in wildland fire as a crewperson, but hopefully be inspired to continue on to become future leaders in the fire service."

The Yurok Tribe is the first California tribal firefighting organization to be a part of the Women in Fire program.

The women selected will go through in-depth training to pass the written and physical tests required to receive an interagency-certified Incident Qualifications Card, or Red Card, and a Firefighter 2 credential, which will qualify them to land firefighting jobs anywhere in the United States.

Yurok Fire Chief Rod Mendes said it is an honor to be a part of this pilot program. He hopes it will be the first of many for California tribes.

“I think the hope is that if we're really successful then that would provide opportunities for other tribes to be part of this program as well," Mendes said. "We want to hire more female firefighters and the reason I say that we want to hire more is because recognizing that diversity is really a strong advocate for a well-developed organization you need diversity.”

Mendes will oversee the training. Those interested in applying for the program can find the application here.

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