By FireRescue1 Staff
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —A fire department’s longest-serving female firefighter is set to retire.
Winston-Salem Fire Department Captain Phyllis Heitman said that she will have served 30 years, seven months and nine days when she retires at the end of November, according to Winston-Salem Journal.
“Life is all about choices and I made the right choice coming to the Winston-Salem Fire Department 30 years ago,” Capt. Heitman said. “It’s made me a stronger person physically and mentally. I love the job.”
Heitman was hired in 1987 after leaving a job at a day care center.
“It was a whole new world, being the one woman in a class of 26 men,” she said. “But everybody was like a family.”
Heitman was promoted to captain in 1997 after quickly climbing the ranks in the department and played a big part in the response to the most significant fire in the city’s history, according to Chief Trey Mayo.
“She was responsible for receiving and tracking all off-duty personnel as they arrived on the scene,” Chief Mayo said. “It gives me chills. Herding cats is nothing compared to corralling a bunch of firefighters arriving on scene while you have a city block on fire.”
Heitman was also the first woman to finish the Firefighter Combat Challenge, which earned her the right to carry the 1996 Olympic torch through Lexington.
“The job of a firefighter is very demanding. She’s seen a lot and done a lot in her 30-plus years here,” Chief Mayo said. “A lot of sacrifices have to be made, but as Capt. Heitman will tell you, she made it work.”