UTICA – A group of area teens aren’t trying to beat the heat today, but instead they’re working even harder in it.

 About 20 teenage girls are learning how to become firefighters in a week long summer camp in Utica.

Instructors said the camp is like taking a recruitment class in the Fire Academy and squeezing it into a week-long crash course.

The girls, ranging in age from 14-10, learn how to tie knots in ropes which are often used with rescues, and to move equipment. They are also shown how to break and enter.

Instructors said the fire camp is a great tool for team building in addition to giving women the chance to try something many of them don’t know much about.

“I think historically it follows people who know about it…they have fathers or mothers or you know grandparents who were firefighters,” said Lt. Anna Schermerhorn. “What we want to do is reach out to young people who don't have it and introduce them to this great opportunity.” 

And for the concerned parents out there, camp councilors are making sure the campers are well hydrated and no one we spoke with said they struggled too much in the heat during the first day and a half of camp.

The camp runs through this week’s end, and instructors are hoping to bring it back again next year.