Female Firefighters: An Answer in an Age of Declining Volunteerism

Volunteerism in the United States is in the midst of a significant decline—a problem affecting many volunteer fire departments across the country, particularly in the Appalachian Region, which has seen an exodus of residents due to the decline of the coal industry. With fewer residents, many communities don’t have enough volunteers to effectively staff their fire departments. This leads us to an interesting story in the unincorporated area of Frametown, WV.

A unique case

Frametown is a rural community in Braxton County, located near the Elk River. The Frametown Volunteer Fire Department is responsible for an area that includes approximately 1,400 residents, 500 households, an elementary school, several small businesses, and a 14-mile stretch of Interstate 79. Emergency response operations are handled by a department of five officers, 11 firefighters, one junior firefighter and 10 support members, 59 percent of whom are women, including Fire Chief Angie Short.                

Having 59 percent female membership is truly an exceptional case. A 2015 NFPA report on the state of the fire service in the United States indicated that women comprise only 7.3 percent of all career and volunteer firefighters and 8.9 percent of all volunteer firefighters. Understanding the story of the Frametown Volunteer Fire Department could be one of the crucial turning points for increasing volunteerism in the U.S. fire service.

Gender diversity has been a long-standing discussion within the fire service, but in Frametown, it is a non-issue, as the volunteer fire department has established a welcoming, collaborative and inclusive culture. One of five officers is female—that being Chief Short, who has held the position for the past 12 years. Women account for 55 percent of the firefighters. The lone junior firefighter is a female. Additionally, support members work to support all operational activities within the fire department, which range from activities in safe zones on emergency response scenes to work at the fire station. Women account for 80 percent of the support members.

The history of women in this fire department dates back to its founding in 1973, when Sharon Frame was one of the original members. In December 1994, Bonnie Petty, Teresa Mick (an Iraq war veteran) and Mina Dobbins became the first females to successfully pass Firefighter I through the West Virginia University Fire Service Extension. Today, Petty serves as a support member and is the department’s president, Mick is a firefighter, and Dobbins is deceased.

There currently exists a family with three generations of women in the fire department, including Mick, her daughter Bridget McLaughlin, and her granddaughter Taylor Riffle, who is the department’s lone junior firefighter. Jessica Raynor was previously a junior firefighter and recently advanced to the position of firefighter upon turning 18 years old. Janette McCourt is a member along with her sister, Oneda Schiefer, and her daughter, Tara Wilson. Debbie Roberts serves along with her husband, Mike Roberts. One female, who wishes to not be named, joined the fire department in an EMS role when such activity was managed in their station until the 1990s. She later transitioned into a support function and currently serves as the department’s secretary. These are only some of the existing female members among the many women who have served Frametown in the past.

But how did Frametown get to this point? Simply put, women in Frametown wanted to do more. When relegated to support activity in emergency response safe zones in the earlier years of the department’s history, they wanted to engage more in direct emergency response operations. Such a desire pushed the envelope, resulting in women effectively completing Firefighter I through the West Virginia University Fire Service Extension and advancing to the position of firefighter, which allowed them to move beyond safe zones on emergency response scenes into areas where they could engage directly in fire suppression and relief of victims. 

An early catalyst for Chief Short in wanting to take a more active role in the fire department was when she responded to a car accident prior to obtaining Firefighter I. She heard a victim cry, “Save my baby! Save my baby!” At the time, she could not step forward to provide assistance due to a lack of training. She then decided she would navigate all required training so that she could render any help necessary.

Female recruitment and retention drivers

A unique contribution Frametown can make to the U.S. fire service is through presenting specific elements that have facilitated such a high level of female engagement. Interviews of eight male and 10 female members were conducted over the period of June 6–8, 2018. The study of the Frametown Volunteer Fire Department yielded specific female recruitment and retention drivers.

Sense of community        

When asked why they decided to join the fire department, a major theme among the women focused on the need to serve their community. A unique dynamic of the department is that emergency response calls often result in encountering someone whom a member knows as a family member, friend or acquaintance due to the rural community and response area. The close-knit environment drove these women to join the fire department as a way to protect those who live and work in their community. Mick explained, “I was in the military and I came back from Iraq … I had spent several years giving to my country and I wanted to give to my community.”

Compassion

Both male and female members frequently spoke to the level at which females demonstrate compassion to victims on a response scene compared to their male counterparts. Men and women spoke to stereotypes of female members of the department being able to connect with victims and calm them in an environment where their male counterparts would not be as successful. Such compassion has extended beyond the incident scene to helping victims following the event. Debbie Roberts shared examples of times when after an incident, female department members would engage visit the hospital and take the children of victims out to eat. Such efforts beyond the incident demonstrated the degree to which female members wanted to ensure the needs of the victims were being met. Both males and females spoke to the fact that men do not lack compassion, but rather female members tend to demonstrate compassion on a more agile basis in the heat of emergency response and following incidents.

The concept of compassion was represented in two facets. First, due to the rural community dynamic, members of the fire department often reported in interviews having to respond to someone they knew personally. In such cases, a theme that surfaced among males and females was their ability to separate an emotional response from the task at hand. Females were more likely to compassionately support a victim. However, females reported that following the incident, they tend to physically express emotion while men reported that they tend to maintain emotional responses internally. Women reported that they felt physically expressing emotion provided an immediate release of pressure as a result of critical-incident stress.

Second, the department responds to numerous emergency response calls on Interstate 79 for motorists traveling through the area (two occurred during the period of the study). In these cases, the victims may not be known by members of the department. Compassion exhibited by female members during these calls remained a theme throughout the interviews. Again, the issue of male compassion was not dismissed, but favor from both genders was reported in relation to females being able to more effectively connect with the victims on an emotional level, thus helping to more fully control the incident. Such emotional connection has added a successful element of diversity during emergency response in holistically managing incidents.

Gender equality

In a world of gender rhetoric and division on numerous fronts, the Frametown Volunteer Fire Department appears to be a microcosm of harmony. But it has not always been this way. A turning point in the department centered on a division among its members regarding the number of women working for the department. Several males who were not content with the existing number of women chose to separate themselves and establish a volunteer fire department in a neighboring community. The remaining male members adopted a mindset of task accomplishment rather than gender as a marker for acceptance.

A unique finding of this examination was that the members tended to acknowledge gender as a non-limiting factor. It was not an issue with them. In the words of Petty, “[Women members] are not out to change the world. We just want to better our community.”

The women simply serve where they can to support the operations of the fire department, as do their male counterparts. Gender is an absent part of their dialog, so much so that one male firefighter questioned why this examination was even being conducted, as they see no difference between female and male members. 

Both males and females tend to look at individual performance based on one’s ability to pass Firefighter I through the West Virginia University Fire Service Extension and performance on a scene. Short described the environment as one in which women do not feel a need to prove themselves any more than males. Gender is bypassed in favor of simply evaluating individual ability.

Mick stated, “I think it’s a good example for young kids. Not just girls, not just boys, but for young children to see men and women working, and working well together, setting a good example.” Riffle, the department’s only junior firefighter, stated, “We are willing and we are strong, and we know that we can do this stuff and we can do whatever we can put our minds to.”

Mentoring

A theme throughout the interviews was the familial environment and culture that has been created within the fire department. This dynamic has helped them reach a pinnacle of mentoring in that new members, regardless of gender, are welcomed by both male and female members and are engaged based on their desires and abilities. Randy James succinctly stated, “We are not a brotherhood or sisterhood, we are a family.”

Women warmly welcome the younger women into the department as well. They establish an environment of growth and development that is strongly supported by their male counterparts. The experienced women mentor the younger women by providing guidance on the requirements of being a firefighter as well as an emotional support system in which they can naturally develop.

Advice for other departments

Frametown is a success story amid a larger dialog that has been a topic of great controversy in the fire service. It can serve as a model for the many communities across the country that are struggling to recruit volunteer firefighters to protect their residents and property.

The four themes of sense of community, compassion, gender equality and mentoring that surfaced at Frametown provide insight into the establishment of a culture where females can become integrated and excel in the volunteer fire service. Local female populations of all ages serve as a rich resource that can be tapped by volunteer fire departments in their efforts to address the problem of declining volunteerism (Frametown members range from age 17 to 78).

As Steven Gillespie stated in a previous Firehouse article, “We are no longer a good ‘ol boys club.” Volunteer fire departments can take advantage of the opportunity to effectively recruit, train and incorporate motivated women of all ages into their operations as is evidenced by the success of Frametown. As Frametown members assess the issue, it is simply a matter of desire and ability, not gender. 

In closing the project, following is advice that several the members provided to women of all ages who are interested in engaging in the volunteer fire service:

·      Short: “Everyone has something to give. Just come and join us. Even if you have a spark of interest, come.”

·       Assistant Chief Glen Nicholas: “Go for it. The opportunity is there.”

·       Raynor: “You don’t have to run calls. There is stuff inside, behind closed doors that is still very, very important to the fire department.”

·       Steve Williams: “Jump in a pair of those boots with both feet and give it all you’ve got.”

·       Mick: “Go for it. Absolutely. It’s wonderful. It’s something you’ll either spend your life doing or you’ll remember it as you go on through your life.”

·       Erman Smith: “It’s a great way of serving your community. It doesn’t make a difference what your age is.”

·       Riffle: “Whatever she can put her heart to, her mind to, or want to do, or want to try, she can do it.”

If you happen to find yourself traveling in West Virginia between mile markers 43 and 57 on I-79 and are in need of emergency assistance, consider yourself in the good hands of the Frametown Volunteer Fire Department.