More women joining ranks of rural fire units, many of which have been running short of volunteers

Women are coming to the rescue of rural fire departments that are running short of volunteers, joining a "traditionally male-dominated endeavor," reports Jayette Bolinski for the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill. (SJ-R photo by David Spencer)

Bolinski's example is KaCey Noe, above, who passed the "physically and emotionally draining" strength and agility test required by the Lincoln Rural Fire Department. "She gets mixed reactions from the public on calls," the reporter notes, quoting her: "Sometimes, yes, there are people who gravitate toward me. And also there are the ones who gravitate away. Some of them honestly don’t recognize that I am a firefighter, that I am a legit member of this department."

John Swan, president of the Illinois Firefighters Association, told Bolinski that many more women have become volunteer firefighters in the last five to 10 years: “I think women think they may not play a role in fire service, but they do. . . . The volunteer fire service around this state is really in a dire need of maintaining its staffing for volunteers in these communities. We’re getting less and less every year because of the time commitment and the economic conditions where both people [in a household] are working, and not just everybody can be a firefighter, including men.” (Read more)