- [Safiya] So, is it warm in there?
(laughs)
(bangs)
(upbeat music)
- Fire fighters,
- Our American heroes.
- To show you just how hard their job is
- You're about to watch us probably suck at it.
- It's Ladylike, and today we're gonna learn
how to fight some fires.
- I definitely admire firefighters.
I don't know if I ever had a phase
where I wanted to be a firefighter.
- I liked them, I thought they were awesome
and heroic and dope, but I never thought
that I could be one.
- I think a lot of it is that when you see posters
for firefighters you see men, you don't really see women.
- I'm getting myself mentally prepared
for like how physically taxing today's gonna be.
- I don't have a ton of upper body strength.
I heard that we're going to carry 150 pound dummy.
- I'm anticipating us getting schooled
by some female fire fighters.
- I am excited to challenge myself and push my limits.
- I think today's gonna be a wake up call,
that this is real life and things like this happen
and to try and be as ready as possible.
- Don't try, are we trying to tell them
don't try this at home.
Maybe try this at home.
Learn these skills and try this at home, kids.
(upbeat music)
- I've been on the Los Angeles Fire Department
for 16 years now.
- Wow.
- I'm an Inspector 1, I'm also a fire fighter
and paramedic.
I also assist with the candidate assistance program,
so I do a lot of strength training
for candidates coming into the field.
- What got you ladies interested enough
to believe that you could actually pursue this career?
- When I was 16 years old I joined the Explorer Program
with LA City Fire Department.
And literally, from the first day I walked into
the Fire Station I knew it's what I wanted to do.
- I never thought I wanted to be a firefighter.
I thought it was not a female job.
One of my jobs was an athletic trainer
with the Fire Fighter football team.
Some of the guys were from this department
and said, "Hey, you should really think about the job,
"we're hiring."
So, I rode out and I realized for that five hours
of a ride along, they work out, they're team oriented,
they get to help others, and they eat together,
and cook together so there's that camaraderie
for that 24 hours.
And, I thought, you guys get paid for this?
- What's like the normal like start time.
So like, when a recruit does it for the first time ever.
- A minute and 15, a minute 20 as they're getting
used to it, but once you do it over and over
they practice several hundred times,
they can do it in 30 seconds.
- So, do you guys feel like, as women,
since there aren't a ton of women on the force
and like you said there's a lot of upper body
work required, you have to work twice as hard
to get to the same level as everyone else?
- We definitely do have to work harder
and work differently than the men do, right?
So, there's a lot of specificity exercises
that we can do to train our upper body to become stronger.
- It's not only mentally and physically and physically
challenging, but it's also emotionally challenging as well.
- I'm gonna put 60 seconds on the clock
and you guys are up.
- All right. - All right, ready.
Go.
- How do you think we're going to do today.
We're gonna be put through like an obstacle course
and have to carry like a 165 pound dummy, I think?
- Well, for a group of three, for what's meant for
a person of one, I hope you'll be able to do it.
(laughs)
- [Freddie] Oh man, no pressure.
(laughs)
- We think you guys are going to do excellent.
We know you're gonna pass with flying colors.
- So, what you're saying is my height
is not going to be an advantage today?
- Your height will be an advantage today, yes.
- Oh, all right! (laughs)
I knew I came here for a reason.
- All right, here you go, arm through.
Here.
(laughs)
Yours was fast.
- Can you imagine like running to get the hose in this?
- Oh my gosh.
- That's what we have to do, right?
We're gonna wear this to do it?
- Oh, we're wearing it with this?
- This first obstacle that we're have here
is going to be the Hose Drag.
So, we're gonna drag it over there by the barrel,
around an obstacle and into this box
where you're gonna pull it all the way through
till you get to this red line.
This simulates getting the hose to the fire.
- The second event you ladies are gonna be doing
is our forcible entry event.
So, what it is it's a ten pound sledge hammer
and you're going to be simulating that
you're forcing entry into a locked door, or facility.
The third event you guys will be doing is
a ladder simulation.
So, fire fighter Sonoda is going to go ahead
and demonstrate actually raising a ladder up,
she sets it on the side of the building
and then she's gonna raise what's called the halter,
it's the fly portion of the ladder.
The key in this event is not to let it slip
through your hands.
If you do it's an automatic fail.
That's 165 pounds, and this is the one we thought
you three could do together.
(ominous music)
- Set, go.
- [Daysha} Come on Freddie.
- [Safiya] Yes Freddie, get it.
Pull that giant hose.
- [Daysha] Pull it Freddie, pull it.
Go Freddie, go Freddie.
(ominous music)
(claps)
(ominous music)
(gasps)
- [Freddie] Go Daysha, go Daysha.
(bell dings)
All right, whoo.
- Hit every rung.
Walk.
- [Safiya] Put that ladder up.
Whoo.
- Okay, hand over hand.
- [Freddie] Pull that ladder.
Look at it go.
- [Gale] Good, now don't let it slip coming down.
- [Freddie] Whoo.
- Good job.
- Yes! (laughs)
- We missed all of them.
Okay.
(ominous music)
- All right, good.
- Whoo.
- Nice job.
So, that is four of the eight.
- Four out of eight, four more.
- Good job ladies.
- Yeah, great job.
- We're congratulating ourselves
but we did half of the minimum standard.
I had a lot of fun, I had a great time actually.
- I'm sweating.
- I feel like my eyebrows probably sweat off at this point.
- Oh, yeah.
- I have such a deep appreciation for what
you guys do now.
- Yeah.
- Right now we're right in the middle
of our new testing process, so we are doing
a lot of recruiting.
We are looking to increase our number of females
in the Fire Department.
- It's not easy, but I think that if you can
get through all of this I could see
how you'd feel so satisfied at the end of everyday.
- Yes.
Thank you so much, thank you for having us.
- That was
- Lady tested,
- [All] Lady encouraged.
- And, we are encouraging you to apply
to the Fire Department Training Program.
- Hey all, click on that (mumbles) over there
to see more videos from our channel.
- Some of our favorites are in there.
- And, some we like just okay.
- But watch anyway.
- Because we love you.
- We love you.
- I'm sleepy.
(whooshes and creaks)