Females in the fire services

[probe]

hi, most of my volly department is female i was woundering on thoughts about female firefighters.

[Diane E]

I hope this doesn't start another nasty debate -- this topic has been beaten to death so many times.....I'm one of 2 females and I've been in 10 years -- it's all what you make of it....There are some good ones and there are some bad ones just like every other "type" of human being. The majority of the people I have encountered have been nice about it.

[rckyview]

We have a few females on our department. The only comment that I think matters is that they're good firefighters.

[Firebear230]

Firefighters are firefighters. Gender or race doesn't matter. We are all family that lives, works, battles the enemy together, and sometimes dies together.

All that matters is that we love each other and the job.

I'm a female and I've been lucky enouhg to be in this field for five years. I'll keep goign till I can't drag my butt into the truck anymore.

[WHFD322]

I LIKE THEM IF THEY HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE AND DO THE JOB.

[lang]

When I started off in the fire service it used to be all male. A couple of years later the first female fire fighters were appointed and there was somewhat of a resistance from a couple of the then older fire fighters. The only prerequisite I had then was the same one I still have - "no matter what race, sex or age you are, as long as you can do the job".

[ThickSmoke3]

My dept. has three females and they work just as hard as some of the males. When it comes down to a medical incident it's great to have their experience. Two are nurses and the other is a paramedic. What more do you need?

[SmokeJockey]

The problem at my vol dept is that some of the dinosaurs (no offense chiefs--these guys are the FOUNDING fathers and have been around so long they remember when they had to wake up the horses.) The problem is that these guys see the fire house as another moose lodge or elk club. To them it's a place to meet other guys and B.S. That's not what we are here for. I think that having a few female FF on the job would cut down on that P.O.V. Seeing as we have none, if you live near Greenwood, SC email me if you are interested in joining @ firedog_30_31@hotmail.com

[dammitangie]

Fortunately, in my short experience (since May) I have been in two different departments, and worked with about 7 different ones cooperatively and throughout my training. The one I am part of now has the most female members in the entire county, and I am relieved to say that we are some of the harder working members in our department. Many of the members would choose us any day as a partner <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

And i agree with previous comments...in the gear, we are genderless, and there is nothing identifiable about us. We work together whether or not we have silly gender related issues <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Plus, most of the females in he departments need to grow up and get a sense of humor anyways...if you deal with the old guys, they'll let you in, trust me...I am Texan y'all <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

[fire69dawg]

I feel the same as most others here. If they can do the job, let them. The only problems I have encountered is when they can't do the job and they are given "easier assignments" because they are female. In todays world everyone is freaked out about sexual dicrimination, so the uppers do what they can to avoid any problems. As long as each person is treated fair and equal, it doesn't matter what sex, race, etc anyone is.

[probe]

[quote]Originally posted by dammitangie:<br /><strong>Fortunately, in my short experience (since May) I have been in two different departments, and worked with about 7 different ones cooperatively and throughout my training. The one I am part of now has the most female members in the entire county, and I am relieved to say that we are some of the harder working members in our department. Many of the members would choose us any day as a partner <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

And i agree with previous comments...in the gear, we are genderless, and there is nothing identifiable about us. We work together whether or not we have silly gender related issues <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Plus, most of the females in he departments need to grow up and get a sense of humor anyways...if you deal with the old guys, they'll let you in, trust me...I am Texan y'all <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> </strong><hr></blockquote>

i agree with you and whould be your partner any time

[galves5.5]

I work for 911 service and their are many GREAT female paramedics that I would let work on me over the guys just b/c they know their **** and that I would work with on a daily basis <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

[stevenld]

If the gear fits, lets put the wet stuff on the red stuff. let's haul *** we have a job to do!!!

<br />WE R 1

[LadderCapp]

DISCLAIMER: This reply is in no way meant to be inflammatory or insulting to women!!!!

In the dept. that I work for we don't have any female firefighters, but several surrounding dept. have females, and with our very active mutual aid, and automatic aid agreements I have had the opportunity to work on scene with several. I don't think that the problems, or debates about females in the fire service rest on the shoulders of the females. There are a large number of women in the service that are an asset by any standards.

The problem is that several departments have lowered the physical standards for employment testing to allow more women to gain employment. All this seems to be geared towards making departments look better on paper as far as being eoe departments.

Several women that I've worked with can get it done, very well. But they are unfortunately outnumbered by women that can't. If a woman, man, or minority of ANY color, religion, so on and so on can pass the test and get the job done then lets pack up and go to work. But the administrators and politically correct, hypersensitive board members, and city fathers and mothers are making it harder and harder for the debates to be settled. IMHO

[littlemissemt]

I think that having female ff's on a dept is a GREAT idea. I myself am a female and plan on becoming a FF w/in the next several years once I get in a little better shape.

My stepfather knows of a Fire Station in Tacoma, WA, that is ALL female...he says that they kick butt too.

Hey, as long as we can do the job.

[MrFreeze]

Well this is off-topic, because I think if a girl can pull her weight she has as much business on scene as a guy, so this outdated, overdiscussed, pointless, beat-a-dead-horse argument gets old and the webteam should can it up every time it comes up along with who's better, vollies or paid people, but littlemissemtstudent, c'mon now, saving pts. from the FIRE DEPT.? I assume that's what that stands for. Kinda the wrong place to knock the fire service performance of EMS, don't ya think, I mean this IS the FIREHOUSE, after all...

[Engine101]

Presently there a no females on our department but I feel women are very capable of doing this job as long as they feel they can do it,

[arvin]

I have worked with many females in the fire service. 20+ years as a fulltimer and 7yrs. as a volunteer. Most do a good job or bust their butts trying. I don't think they are all that much different then the men. They will work or they won't. As a captain on both depts. I expect the same effort from either because I don't have the time or manpower to babysit. No matter how you look at it if they aren't probies and still need to be babysat for then they need another line of work. The only problem I have is the female that could make a sailor blush but runs to the chief if somebody makes an off color remark. They seem to be the first to cry sexual harrassment. How many agree with that one? <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

[emt313]

As long as they can put the wet stuff on the red stuff, who cares? This is life, not Baywatch. Nobody is going to look at someone in turnouts at a scene and say "Yo baby!", or deny themselves help. A firefighter is just that. We're not white, black, female, republican... WHATEVER. I've had more problems with the oldtimers and hometown wannabes.

[old timer]

Well, when I first started we had no active females on board the fire service side of the department. Women, mom included were obliged to be members of the ladies Auxilliary. They did a fine job for us after calls, and they even raised a fair amount of money for us too.

Times have changed in the Volunteer arena as we evolved into EMS as well. During daytime calls we were short on Firefighters and EMT's. Most logical thing to do was to recruit the women folk to help out with EMS and On Fires.

I agree that the women should be permitted to apply and join as well as me. I also agree that they like some men I have encountered in the service need to pull their share of the load also. But I also agree that if they are members they deserve the right to function on incidents as we do and not to be held back.

It has worked pretty good in our department. we have 10 women at the present and for the most part, most have done good jobs for us, the same way that for most parts, most of the guys have done a good job for us.

<br />Keep doing it for the right reasons!!!!!!!