Aurora Fire Rescue Captain Valerie Solano started Camp Spark to help young women interested in fire service gain courage and fire skills.
Camp Spark, started by AFR Capt. Valerie Solano in 2020 to help inspire young women to join the fire department and ignite courage in them, will run this summer from July 26 through July 28 at the City of Aurora Public Safety Training Center, 25950 E. Quincy Ave.
Girls between ages 12 and 18 can apply for the camp, which includes workouts, education from female firefighters, games and team challenges, and drills such as raising and lowering ladders and conducting rescues and searches.
Applications are due June 7 and attendance will be limited to 50 participants, according to a news release.
Batcho, one of the camp’s prior participants, wants to be a firefighter when she turns 18.
Camp Spark has helped her get exposure to the firefighting world and develop confidence in herself, she said.
When Solano, who co-founded Camp Spark, became a firefighter, she wasn’t sure how to break into the field. She and another AFR firefighter decided to start the camp to help young women interested in fire service get their feet in the door and gain the courage to enter the still male-dominated field.
Seeing the girls — who are usually timid on day one — develop confidence in themselves over the course of the camp “fills our hearts,” Solano said.
“One of the skill sets that we’re trying to get these young ladies to have is that confidence,” Solano said. “It’s not just ‘I can do this because I’m a girl or I can do this because I’m a boy,’ it’s ‘I can do this because I’m confident and competent’.”
During camp each year, Solano has her male counterparts come out and see how the girls are doing, she said.
“It’s really cool for us to have the men come out and see what women are capable of doing with very little instruction,” Solano said. “We’re only about seven or eight percent women in Aurora Fire and we want to see that increase.”