WA Female Firefighters Create Historic Shift

Spokane County Fire District 8 saw a first earlier this week when an all-female firefighter team ran the paramedic unit Monday.

Firefighters Meg Williams and Jennifer Raudebaugh didn't know about their history-making shift until their captain told them about it, KXLY-TV reports. And the two women said being the district's first all-female firefighter team on the paramedic unit didn't make the day at work anything out of the ordinary.

"I still don't think anything different of it. I just show up for shift," Williams told KXLY. "The guys here are really great, so they treat us equal."

But Raudebaugh hopes she can be a role model for younger girls who see becoming a firefighter as a viable career.

"I get kind of choked up about it. I want to inspire little girls," she told the TV station. "Like, little girls at the grocery store go, 'Oh my gosh, I didn't know I could be a firefighter. I'm like, 'Of course, you can be a firefighter. Why wouldn't you want to be? It's pretty awesome'."