By Anreea Gillhoolley
The Lebanon Daily News
LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — Patti Kreitzer was a mere 14 years old when she became a junior firefighter with the Bunker Hill Fire Co. in Swatara Township.
Since then, the 34-year-old mother of two has responded to hundreds of fires, fatal accidents, storms and medical calls and is so invested in her volunteer job that, years ago, she drove a fire truck up until she was eight months pregnant.
Kreitzer, a paramedic, is still with the same company and has worked her way up to medical chief and secretary. These days, she is encouraged to see more women joining the ranks, though they are still few and far between at Lebanon County fire companies.
“There are more young women coming in,” she said. “It’s been a male-dominated thing because it’s not easy. It is a lot of hard work. The training that you go to ... you have to keep up with the guys. People come and go - men and women - there’s quite a turnaround. It’s not for everybody. It’s either in your blood or it’s not.”
As the daughter of the chief, Rick Kreitzer, she had a lot to prove.
“He was very hard on me,” she explained. “He treated me like the other guys.”
But it’s the rewards, Kreitzer said, that drove her to persevere.
“If you go out there and save someone’s life, there is nothing like that,” she said. “When there’s a new female, or even a new guy, the guys are going to be rough on you. Once you prove yourself, they treat you like one of the guys. You have to prove that you can hold your own.”
Nearly 11,000 women are career, or paid, firefighters across the nation, making up 3.6 percent of the career firefighter population, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. Women make up just 4 percent of the volunteer fire service, which is about an estimated 32,000 members nationwide.
More than half of paid fire departments have never hired a female firefighter, according to a report issued by Cornell’s Institute for Women and Work in the ILR School.
While the number of women firefighters in Lebanon County has increased slightly, the overall number of volunteer firefighters has declined nationwide.
Jeanne Pashalek, president of the International Association of Women In Fire & Emergency Services, said the growth of women firefighters in the United States has stalled.
“After 9/11 there was an increase in the number of women who entered fire and emergency services,” said Pashalek, a battalion chief of Emergency Services with Lincoln Fire & Rescue in Lincoln, Neb. “At this point, based on what I have been informed of and aware of, we’ve leveled off, if not fallen behind.”
Pashalek said the organization would like to see the number reach 17 percent, but reaching that number will be difficult with certain barriers in place and a lack of active recruitment efforts for women.
While some departments are more accepting, Pashalek said, based on her own experience in her department and the experience of other women, many departments are either slow to change or do not sustain the effort to change.
“A lot of women do not feel welcome or have that feeling of acceptance, which deters a lot of them,” she said. “And we just don’t have much exposure to it as a career. A lot of young girls and women don’t view as an option for a profession.”
One woman who did set out for a career in fire service was Barbara West. When the Cleona woman started firefighting in the 1970s, there were an estimated 300,000 volunteers in Pennsylvania. Today, that number has dwindled to just 70,000 volunteers, according to estimates by the Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner.
At 17, West, a longtime correspondent and photographer for the Daily News, was the first female applicant for the Fire Science Technology Program at HACC in Harrisburg in 1977.
The textbooks about fire suppression and fire ground operations weren’t enough to give West a true picture of firefighting, so Perseverance Fire Co. Chief Henry “Skip” Gerhart encouraged her to fill out an application.
“I found out later that he took the crew aside and told them that if they had any concerns working with a female they should come to him,” she said via email. “If they did, I never knew about it. I can only say that the Jonestown guys treated me quite respectfully.”
One major issue, West said, was actually finding gear small enough to fit her. Former Bunker Hill Fire Co. Chief Reg Daubert, found some smaller-sized boots and pants for her, and he told her she could run with his crew to gain additional experience. She then became their first female firefighter, too.
Training is rigorous, and she did it all, from learning how to man a hose line and heel a ladder to fighting fire in a smokehouse.
“If you’re going to succeed, you have to be serious about it,” West said. “And if you’re a female entering any traditional male job, you have to work twice as hard to prove that you can physically perform as well as a guy. That means passing all the same physical training requirements. As a firefighter, your life or someone else’s depends upon your capabilities on a fire/emergency scene.”
Though she stopped short of completing her firefighting degree once she married, had children and her education took her in another direction, West’s experience made a lasting impression on her.
“I’ve been at brush fires, fatal accidents and spent most of a night at a barn fire,” she explained. “I’ve been bone-weary, covered in soot, felt that rush of adrenaline as we headed out to an unknown emergency. I’ve had some perspective as to what dangers firefighters encounter, and I’ll never forget that.”
In the last decade, West said, she has observed more husband-and-wife teams, like Dean and Joan Sallada, chief engineer and assistant chief, respectively, of the Bellegrove Fire Co., who are heavily involved in the local fire companies, a remarkable change from when she first started, she said.
Though Joan Sallada began volunteering at a fire company 46 years ago, it wasn’t until her daughter decided to take a first-responders course 20 years ago that Joan and Dean decided they should get involved, too.
In fact, their entire family is involved with the fire company in some capacity. Sallada, who runs a produce stand, always keeps her gear close by in case of an emergency.
The modest 60-year-old who says she just wants to “help someone in their time of need” was recognized as Firefighter of the Year by Lebanon County in 1994 and by her department five times. She also was rewarded with the 1995 Pennsylvania Emergency Service Award issued by Veterans of Foreign War and given a CPR Save Award Pin for saving an elderly man 10 years ago.
She was recognized for her response to a construction accident in 2009 and was recently nominated for the 2011 America’s Most Wanted All-Star first responders contest.
Sallada responds to about 70 percent of the medical and fire calls and puts in a thousand hours as not only assistant fire chief but EMS chief, secretary, grant writer and fundraising chairwoman.
“I was born and raised on a farm. ... I know what hard work is. I could run circles around some guys,” she said as she laughed. “But this is something that you have to want to do, whether you’re a man or lady.”
And being a firefighter is not just about physical strength but emotional strength as well. Four years ago, Sallada assisted at two fatal accidents around Father’s Day. When she was in the Brickerville area in Lancaster County, she happened to come upon another horrific accident and sprung into action.
Fortunately, the woman who was severely injured, survived.
“I visited her for 16 months,” Sallada said. “It was truly a miracle.”
Seeing people through their darkest times is the most rewarding aspect of the job, said Lisa Rudy, captain of the Fredericksburg Fire Co., which has five women firefighters.
Rudy started out taking an EMT course in 1989 and volunteered with Independent First Aid Unit in Lebanon before she joined Liberty Fire Co. a year later in the city.
It was a struggle at first, she said.
When Rudy joined Independent Fire Co., she met some resistance from some of the more entrenched members.
“Some of the older crew, they didn’t want a woman, and I could understand that. ... But I knew with my heart that I was doing this for the right reasons,” said Rudy, who was named president of the Lebanon County Firefighters Association’s 2003 to 2004. “If you have a solid foundation of the basics, you will do well.”
Through the years, Rudy responded to her fair share of fires, including the HACC fire in Lebanon in 1990 that claimed the life of firefighter Timothy Stine, whom she knew well.
Rudy was injured during another fire. She was holding a ladder for a firefighter when a portion of a loft fell on her. Rudy blacked out and woke up in a hospital. The helmet she was wearing, given to her by her husband, Rick, past chief and current president of the fire company, saved her life.
“I’ve never made gender an issue,” she said. “I’ve never let anyone make me feel like being a woman is a handicap. I’ve accomplished a lot that I am proud of. We all have our strengths and limitations, but we work together to get through it.”
With the dwindling number of firefighters, Rudy said she is encouraged whenever anyone decides to become a firefighter and encourages others to get involved to some degree by donating time or money to the people who are willing to risk their lives to save another.
“If I can help people in their time of need during their darkest hour,” she says, “if I can be that ray of sunshine, then that’s great.”
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