By Hannah Shields
Daily Inter Lake
KALISPELL, Mont. — Smith Valley Fire Chief Amy Beick walked into the station one December day and saw something she’d never encountered in her two decades at the department.
A volunteer shift made up entirely of women.
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Beick couldn’t let the moment pass without taking a picture and posting it on social media. This was something to be celebrated, the fire chief said.
“Having an all-female crew isn’t necessarily about proving that women can do the job,” Beick said. “We know we can do the job. It is more about the representation and showing future generations what can be possible.”
In 2020, women made up 11% of all volunteer firefighters and 5% of all career firefighters in the United States , according to the National Fire Protection Association . Out of 1.04 million career and volunteer firefighters in the country, 9% were women. When Beick first joined the Smith Valley Fire Department nearly 20 years ago, she remembered seeing only one other woman on the staff.
Today, women make up half of the 14-person roster.
Emergency Medical Technician and volunteer firefighter Tasha Dunbar was one of the three women on that memorable all-female crew. She joined the department last fall, but she had to first work herself up.
“I’ve thought about firefighting, like, years ago,” Dunbar said. “And I was like, ‘No, I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough.’”
Studying pre-nursing at Flathead Valley Community College , Dunbar completed an EMT course last summer when she decided to take the leap. Her first ride-along was with Beick, Fire Capt. James Brower and Tiffany Fisher , another volunteer firefighter and EMT.
They all encouraged her to apply. Even then, Dunbar hesitated before submitting an application.
“I remember asking chief, ‘As a female, can I do this?’” she said. “And she was like, ‘Absolutely.’”
Fisher happened to be the third woman on the December team. In contrast to Dunbar, she never questioned whether firefighting was something she could do. And she was the first person in her family to do it.
“It was slightly spur of the moment when I joined,” Fisher said.
She printed out the application for a friend when she decided to fill one out herself. Fisher’s main occupation is running an independent business as a veterinary technician — something she and Beick have in common.
“I’m like, ‘OK, cool. She was a vet tech. She became fire chief. I’m totally equipped for this,’” Fisher said.
The fire department is a second home for many of its staff. The three women said their male counterparts are supportive, and they work well together as a team. But the situation can be different at the scene of an emergency, according to Beick. Civilians tend to gravitate toward the male firefighters.
“Unfortunately, women can face stereotyping when they enter into the fire service,” Beick said. “The important part is rising above that and focusing on working hard and training.”
And, according to Fisher and Dunbar, Beick’s weekly trainings are intense. Practice scenarios are designed to be more complicated and more outrageous than real life. Beick throws every curveball imaginable, and, unlike real life, questions aren’t allowed.
“At first, it was hard,” Dunbar said. “I had to rely on myself. I had to trust my gut and my knowledge, which I feel builds your self-confidence and your skills.”
The fire chief isn’t quite as amicable during training, Fisher joked. But she prefers it that way.
“She’s stringent about it,” Fisher said. “We’re not slacking off.”
Beick hopes more women feel encouraged to join the fire service, especially those like Dunbar, who get too inside their head about it.
“The fire service is not about gender, it’s about teamwork,” Beick said. “It’s about training and it’s about us being there for the community that needs us.”
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