A CREW of teenage students had to rally together to fight a fierce car fire after they were first on the scene on Thursday afternoon.
They wielded hoses, also searched a burning two-storey building and learnt how to create a containment line.
It was all part of an education program aimed at showing young women career pathways they might not have thought about before.
Hunter Year 10 student Isabelle Noble said she was frightened when she first arrived at the Rural Fire Service (RFS) fire control centre at Cameron Park, but learnt a lot about being on the frontline.
"I'm probably interested in doing fire and rescue in my future," she said, after a few hours on the tools.
"I've learnt a lot of stuff about fire today that if I didn't do this, I would never know."
She quickly discovered that being a firefighter was hard work, but it didn't scare her off.
"Just helping people and the environment, that's my idea for wanting to go into it," she said.
About 16 students from six different high schools across the Hunter and Central Coast were at the RFS centre on Thursday for the Girls on Fire program.
It involved the RFS, Fire and Rescue NSW, the State Emergency Service and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
The program is funded under the Regional Industry Education Partnerships (RIEP) program run by the NSW Department of Education.
It's about connecting students and employers and promoting career paths.
School youth worker Katie Wray said hands-on experience in different industries was a crucial part of shaping futures, and also added to the students' personal skills.
"It's definitely opening their eyes to first response and what it involves, but also the skills in teamwork and resilience," she said.
"I can see the confidence building already."
The day of learning culminated in an emergency response, with a crew of students receiving a radio call, gearing up, jumping in two fire trucks and rushing under lights and siren to extinguish a burning car with the help of RFS and Fire and Rescue NSW crews.
Flames leaped from the vehicle, parked in the training area of the RFS centre, before students rolled out hoses, got water onto the fire, and used special signals to communicate with each other.
The students had earlier seen demonstrations from the professionals and carried out hands-on activities with all four agencies involved, and completed safety training.
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