By Paul Nelson
The Times-Union
GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. — This is not the first time Beth Whitman-Putnam has been in the fire chief’s chair.
As a Gloversville High School senior nearly three decades ago, she occupied the seat while job shadowing Chief Charles Weaver. And the pictures, including one in which she is flanked by the late chief and her father, Danny Whitman, now a retired city firefighter, adorn her office.
“The desk and paneling are still the same,” said the soft-spoken Whitman-Putnam, who is the first female career firefighter in the state to lead a department.
Her journey to the top of this 33-member paid fire department in Fulton County had its challenges.
“I was basically not accepted,” she recalled of joining the department in 1988 when she and Trisha Talbert were the first to break the gender barrier. “It was a difficult time for everyone and difficult for some men to accept me. I had to prove myself over and over.” Talbert is now retired.
The 43-year-old Whitman-Putnam recounted how a man at the grocery story said he didn’t feel safe having women firefighters.
“I didn’t know what to do at first and had to absorb it, but then told him, I was sorry he felt that way, and that I could do the job,” she said.
Detractors only strengthened Whitman-Putnam’s resolve to succeed and she rose through the ranks, serving as both acting and interim chief before being appointed to the $72,000-a-year top job by Mayor Dayton King at the New Year’s Day organizational meeting. At the time, she was on duty as a battalion chief.
“I was excited, but I am a realist and know that I have many challenges ahead,” she said.
One of those will be to “mend the relationship with the mayor and council” by maintaining an open line of communication. She is hopeful the community’s fiscal problems won’t hurt her department.
Whitman-Putnam said she wants to streamline the department but declined to detail her plans.
She will be formally sworn in at 6 p.m. Tuesday during the Common Council work session at Gloversville Middle School. Her father will pin the badge on her dress uniform, according to her predecessor, Douglas Edwards.
“I have all the confidence in the world in her,” said Edwards who had to retire in November because of a terminal illness. “She will do a better job than I did.”
Her husband, Michael Putnam, is a battalion chief. They have 13-year-old fraternal twins.
Away from the department, Whitman-Putnam is a 5-foot-4 fitness nut who works out several times a week. She enjoys reading and shuttling the kids to sports practice.
Tom LaBelle, executive director of the state Association of Fire Chiefs, confirmed Monday that Whitman-Putnam is the first female chief in the Empire State. He called her gender an “interesting footnote” but emphasized that chiefs are appointed based on their competence, ability and commitment.
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