Camp Fury Delaware

The Delaware State Fire School is proud to be the host of Delaware's Camp Fury. This is an all-girls camp for girls ages 13 to 17, which will show teenage girls a variety of areas in Emergency Services. The camp is being coordinated by Delaware State Fire School (DSFS) Senior Instructor Vincent Miller and Sarah Davis, an Emergency Manager from the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) in Smyrna, who is also a Firefighter/EMT in New Castle County.

Camp Fury originated in 2009 in Tucson, Arizona with local fire departments, whose Chiefs were both female. The camp idea has spread across the country and is now in Delaware! This camp is designed to expose teen aged girls to a variety of areas in the emergency and public service sectors, to share what career paths that they can follow, that are traditionally male dominated fields. The speakers at the camp will be from the areas of Fire, Rescue, Hazmat, EMS, as well Law Enforcement and Emergency Management, and will allow the campers to experience some hands on skills.

Co-organizer Sarah Davis believes the following: “My hope for Camp Fury Delaware is that we will be able to reach young women interested in the emergency services arena and show them that everything is possible. I believe that women are incredibly capable of competing for the same positions as men in every aspect of emergency response. Hopefully, our camp will inspire young women to aim high, train hard and understand they can succeed in non-traditional roles.”

The camp was developed by the Delaware State Fire School after seeing Camp Fury in Arizona and Camp Fury in Norfolk, the oldest and newest of these camps. “I saw these camps for girls across the country and mentioned it to my family, and my daughter immediately lit up about the idea.” said Senior Instructor Vincent Miller. “We then mentioned it to the Fire School Director, Robert “Biff” Newnam with some information about the camps and he was immediately on board with the idea. So, Delaware Emergency Management Director A.J. Schall was then contacted who put us in contact with Sarah who has worked with us to help make it happen.”

The camp is a two-day, “day camp”, which will involve some minor exercises and stretching in the mornings, and lead into speakers and the “hands-on” sessions for each area represented. The girls will have a chance to speak to women from each field and will be allowed an opportunity to experience some of the skills involved with each job. There will also be some static displays planned, like emergency services vehicles, as well as a tour of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Operations Center in Smyrna. The camp ends with a ceremony with a special guest speaker.