In an effort to increase the number of women in the department, Columbus Division of Fire hosted its first ever all-female recruitment event. “We’re just giving people the opportunity to kind of understand what it is like to be a firefighter and EMT in today’s world,” Battalion Chief Steve Martin said. The event welcomed more than 50 women and gave them firsthand experience in the day to day experiences facing firefighters. The national average for women in firefighting is a little under 2 percent at just 1.7 percent. Columbus Division of Fire is ahead of the national trend with a little more than 2 percent of their department comprised of women, but they are looking to make improvements. “One of the ways that we can do this is by opening it up to women to show them that there is no reason that they can’t do this job.”