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PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Two Portland-area firefighting agencies teamed up this weekend to host the Metro Fire Camp designed to instill confidence and show girls and young women they too can save lives.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, less than 5% of career firefighters in the U.S. are women. Throughout the country, the lack of women firefighters has been a big topic of conversation over the past several years, but in the Portland metro area, that conversation has been going on much longer.

Jocelyn Lamoreau, a firefighter with Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, said girls and women between the ages of 16 and 22 were invited to the camp to suit up and walk a day in her shoes.

“We’re hosting approximately 50 young girls, basically walking them through the daily tasks of what a firefighter experiences,” Lamoreau said.

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For 16 years, Portland Fire & Rescue has hosted the Metro Fire Camp in partnership with Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue to show young women what it takes to be a firefighter.

“The cool thing about this camp is that it’s led by women and it’s tailored to help them navigate the fire service regarding physicality, interviewing, comradery, being able to problem solve and it’s just a little inside view, help them feel more comfortable, comfortable in their own skin and figuring out if this is what they want to do as a career,” Lamoreau said. “We have search & rescue. We have hose movement. We have basically every single thing you can think of that is entailed in the fire realm.”

It’s an annual event that Lamoreau said she wished she had when she was younger and considering a career in fire service.

“I think it’s huge for young women in regard to building up their confidence,” Lamoreau said. “I remember being their age and not really feel sure in my own skin and being able to see other women in those positions as adults and confident in what they’re doing, I would think it’s super inspiring and would make the career choice less intimidating.”

While Lamoreau and several other female firefighters work on making the young women feel comfortable and shake off their nerves, she said her main goal is to give them reassurance.

“I’ve noticed that every year, they’re a little more intimidated, and being able to show them it’s okay to be themselves, it’s okay to ask questions, it’s ok to look silly, it’s okay to fail and this is the place to do it because they’ll have nothing but support and encouraging them,” Lamoreau said.

These young women will walk away with an experience to remember and maybe even a look into their future.

“You’re your own barrier, you’re your own stop and if you really want something and you want to pursue the fire service, reach out,” Lamoreau said.