IAFF INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS

The Outdoor Woman. She has a job, a family and a busy life style. She finds the time to learn her equipment, learn the land and learn the animal she wishes to hunt, while balancing her everyday life. She does this because she loves it, and with this page I will share with you interviews, and personal experiences of women who are just like you, each has her own story,and each gets out there and hunt just like you and I are doing. Each of us has a job or career we must balance and each woman has her own unique story. Here is mine.

My fulltime job away from hunting is being a fulltime Firefighter and Paramedic.

Growing up, I was in and out of the fire station each and everyday.My father has 35 years in the fire service and is a Lieutenant on a Ladder Company in Columbus, Ohio. I loved growing up watching the guys come and go at the drop of a hat, and was fortunate enough to know what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I went to college for an EMS and Fire Science degree, completed the state 240-hr fire training, and then paramedic training. Along with those certificates we also had to complete ACLS( Advanced Cardiac Life Support ), PALS( Pediatric Advanced Life Support ) and CPR(Cardiopulmonary Resusitaion )training, just to name a few.

Being a woman, the training was no different for me, but the people in my training classes sure were! I would often walk into each class or training program and only see men. Men instructors and men students. I always ended up being the only female to attend most of the classes. It was difficult at first, but as I became more and more confident in my skills, I knew I could do everything that the men could do.

I went through school, obtained all my state certifications, and began applying to take each departments’ entrance exam as well as taking their Physical Agility tests.

Each test covered EMS( Emergency Medical Service) questions, fire questions, and was followed up with a physical agility test. They would rank you, depending on the combination of your scores, and usually pick the top two or three depending on how many the department could hire.

This was a very stressful time in my life, taking test after test and competing against guys in great physical shape. I would be ranked up against them, so obtaining a job was a very competitive process for all of us.

I worked hard, and within one year of obtaining my certifications, and working fulltime as a 911 dispatcher in between, I was offered a fulltime job and my favorite department.

I have been on fulltime duty for 6 years now, and love it as much as the first day I started.

Yes, it is demanding, but the satisfaction of helping others keeps me going everyday.

This may seem like it has nothing to do with my other passion, hunting, but I am here to tell you that they go hand in hand. Being a female in a male dominated job, the fire service gave me the confidence to get out into the male dominated hunting industry and know that I could do it just like I had done with my career.

I have proven to myself and others that just because I am a female, does not mean I can not learn and get out there and do everything the boys can do!