By Matt Leingang
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Tammy Kirkpatrick of Washington Court House climbs an aerial ladder to the top of the training tower during an exercise called "Can You take the Heat" at the Colerain Township fire training facility Saturday. The program was set up to get more women interested in becoming firefighters. The Cincinnati Enquirer/JEFF SWINGER

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP - They used hydraulic equipment to tear apart a car, climbed ladders to reach the top of a five-story building and dragged a 175-pound dummy from a simulated burning house, all to prove a point.

Women can take the heat.

Twelve women from Greater Cincinnati - some of them homemakers, others looking for a professional career change - participated in a program Saturday designed to recruit more women for careers in firefighting.

Women represent only 1 percent of professional firefighters, nationally and statewide.

"This is quite a challenge," said 28-year-old Crystal Wilborn of Mount Healthy, who works as an eligibility technician with Hamilton County Jobs and Family Services. "I have deep respect for firefighters knowing what they go through."

The program was held at the Colerain Township fire training facility near Springdale Road.

Men dominate the culture of firefighting, but women can fit in, said Forest Park Fire Chief Trish Brooks, one of only three female fire chiefs in Ohio.

The only real difference is a physical one, Brooks said. Women often lack the upper body strength that men have, but women can still do the kind of heavy lifting required for the job by using their leg muscles.

There's also the issue of being pregnant on the job and taking maternity leave. But again, that can be worked out, Brooks said.

About 200 women have gone through these recruitment programs since they began in 1998. About 80 percent have gone on to become firefighters, Brooks said.

The programs usually are held twice a year at the Ohio Fire Academy in Columbus. This was the first time organizers took the recruitment effort on the road.

"Women can definitely do the job. It's all about having the knowledge and using proper technique," said Capt. Steve Conn of the Colerain Township Fire Department.

Hollie Owens, 31, of Fairfield, a gerontologist who used to work in hospice programs, has spent two years in a fire officer training program.

"I have a 6-year-old-son, and I'm teaching him that women can do anything that men can do," Owens said. "I've never seen him more proud of me."

E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com