It's in My Heart

by Wanda L. Drummond
(Sangerville, Maine Piscataquis)

I am a 47-year-old woman who has been on my local fire department for about 17yrs. And boy, was it an upset when my name came in!

Being the first and still the only woman firefighter, I had to prove myself. It wasn't the fact that I didn't receive good ratings from the guys, it was their wives.

My dad raised 5 daughters but no sons. He was an assistant chief for 20yrs on the department that I'm on. It was in my heart to follow his footsteps. I hung around the department alot with him, woke up when the black box or the red phone rang, running down stairs to get his stuff ready to head out the door. I knew some day it would be my turn.

After raising my children to the age where I could do such a thing, I approached the chief of the department at the time and made the statement that I would like to join. His reply was "It will be a cold day in hell when a woman joins the fire department."

His response just encouraged me more to join. My come back to him was, "Watch me."

It took about another two yrs after before I asked for my name to be voted in. At that time there was a different chief. It was a discussion among the crew, but I was in. I truly believe that they knew my heart was there, because of my dad.

I'm now a Captain, and training officer of our deapartment.

I've been to school, I've been through the FFI course, and now am trying to become an E.M.T. My guys are great and I love my department! Like I said, "It's in my heart." And I quess, hell froze over.