By Lori Van Ingen
The Intelligencer Journal/New Era
LANCASTER, Pa. — Many little boys dream of becoming firefighters when they grow up.
But more and more women are now entering this male-dominated profession and are gaining acceptance among their male peers.
Most of Lancaster County’s volunteer fire companies have or have had women join their ranks fighting fires right alongside the men. Currently, there are more than 50 female firefighters in the county.
Lancaster Township Fire Company firefighter Irene Fitzkee got into firefighting in 1988, when she turned 18.
Because Fitzkee’s uncle and cousin were firefighters when she was growing up, she saw firsthand what firefighters do.
“It kinda appealed to me,” Fitzkee said. “It’s an adrenaline rush, a challenge. It’s something different every time.”
In the ‘80s, Fitzkee said, women were not well received in fire departments. But she worked her way through basic and advanced firefighting classes, as well as specialty trainings in-house with the company she ran with in Lancaster.
“Back then, women were seen as getting into a man’s (job). You were seen as not being able to do the job, so you had to prove yourself more than the men did,” Fitzkee said.
“The men wouldn’t take me to training even if they were going. I had to provide my own transportation. I also was pushed harder than other guys in the class,” she said.
But now, Fitzkee said, women firefighters are more accepted.
“When a woman’s application comes in, no one bats an eye. We’re treated just as any male starting out. It’s kinda nice to see,” she said.
Fitzkee — now a full firefighter who does both internal and external firefighting and rescue vehicles — was just appointed to a position of authority as the company’s safety officer.
“I check policies and procedures to have better safety on scene. I maintain safety and watch for hazards for the crews operating on scene. Any unsafe operation, I would terminate immediately,” she said.
When she was younger, Columbia Consolidated firefighter Pauline Torbert never gave firefighting a thought. But because her husband is a firefighter, Torbert decided to join him as a social member of the company.
“Our station in particular is very family-oriented. All the kids and spouses are here,” she said.
When the fire company needed another person in order to hold one of their classes early this year, Torbert agreed to step in and take the class.
That got her motivated to become a full-fledged firefighter herself.
“It’s exciting. There’s a lot to learn,” Torbert said. “It’s a strenuous training regimen, but I love it.”
In one class, she learned to tie knots. That’s an essential skill, she said, because not only is it used for ropes and rescue, but the firefighters have to be able to tie knots to hoist their heavy tools.
Another class was about the essentials of firefighting, like being able to “hit” or connect a hose to a fire hydrant. “That’s not as easy as it sounds,” Torbert said.
Other classes dealt with the history of firefighting, hazardous materials training and first aid, CPR and AED training.
The last class, which Torbert hasn’t yet taken, is an actual “burn,” a controlled fire at the Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center.
“In Columbia Borough at least, you can’t be (fighting) an interior fire before the last class,” she said.
Torbert said the six months of classes are stressful, “but it’s worth it. It’s become my passion. By the time you’re done, you want to be a firefighter.”
Fire companies do it this way, she said, because they don’t want anybody that’s not serious about it going into a burning building.
“Safety is first. They really stress safety, safety, safety. Safety is part of every class. That’s the biggest change in the fire service in the last 20 years. You’re not just running into a burning building anymore,” she said.
Torbert said fitting in with the men was “difficult at first.”
Not only was she a woman, but her age was counted against her. (She is 39).
“Most don’t start (fighting fires) in their 30s. Most are retiring at that age,” she said. “There are a small handful that are older — and not by much — but even the chief is younger than me.”
But now that they know she is serious about firefighting, she has become accepted, she said, and she enjoys the ribbing that they dish out all in fun.
Torbert said it would be nice to see even more women go into firefighting, however.
“I really encourage them. I’m not in the best shape and if I can do it, you can do it,” she said.
Quarryville Fire Company Lt. Bill Bare said women firefighters must do the same things the men do.
“It’s like going into the Army. You do what the guys do,” he said.
In voluntary service, there’s a place for everybody, unlike in a paid company, he said.
“As an officer, I push that ... day in and day out,” Bare said.
Checking an engine is just as important as the guys putting out the fire, he said.
Quarryville’s older female firefighter, Sherry Wertz, never puts on an airpack, he said, but instead does a lot of behind-the-scenes things.
“She’s like our mom,” Bare said.
Twenty-something Megan Davis, on the other hand, “is in there getting dirty.”
In the history of the Quarryville Fire Company, there have not been many females, he said.
“Sherry broke the ice. And Megan blew our heads off. She’s an all-round top-notch girl,” Bare said.
Davis recently received the Firefighter of the Year award.
“I’m proud of her. A lot of us are proud of her,” Bare said.
Copyright 2010 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.