WORCESTER, MA—One of just 10 women on the city's Fire Department of 400-plus firefighters, Lea Caldwell said she initially wondered whether she was physically strong enough or had what it took to be successful.
It didn't take long for those notions to be put on their head.
A year ago this month, Caldwell, who joined the department in 2017, helped rescue three people from a third-story window during a three-alarm fire at 77 Merrifield St. She used an aerial ladder.
In November at the DCU Center, Gov. Charlie Baker handed Caldwell a citation for meritorious conduct at the annual Firefighter of the Year Awards.
City officials say they believe Caldwell's exploits, so early in her career, were worth highlighting during National Women's Month, which is March.
The 26-year-old graduate of Worcester Technical High School was asked to walk us through the rescue that occurred March 19.
The night of March 19, the Worcester Fire Department responded to the eight-unit apartment building, which had heavy flames visible on the second and third floors, and people screaming from windows. As smoke poured through to the upper floors, Engine 3 set up a ground ladder and removed four occupants from a second-floor window.
Ladder 2 set up its aerial to the third floor and rescued a woman.
Firefighter Caldwell started up Ladder 2 under heavy smoke and tried to help a distraught and panicked woman onto the aerial. The woman accidentally dislodged Caldwell's facepiece, causing her to take in a face full of heavy smoke. Caldwell composed herself and fixed the facepiece. She said she noticed another hand in the window, and went on to help two more people escape. She was able to remain at the tip of the aerial and helped both residents down the ladder.
Caldwell made her actions sound relatively routine.
"It happened so quick," she said.
But it wasn't that easy, said Deputy Chief Martin Dyer, the department spokesman.
"You had your head in the game," he suggested. ""It is not easy, getting someone that's not comfortable onto an aerial ladder, and then down to the ground and to safety. That obviously took a lot of reassurance from Lea. Her calmness, I'm sure, helped them a lot."
Caldwell eventually acknowledged that the scenario was "very uncomfortable."
"In her awareness of not just focusing on that one person," Dyer said, "but recognizing that there were more people there, to getting that one to be safely escorted down the ladder and then working on those other two, I think, is quite the accomplishment."
Caldwell said her training, which consisted of taking ladders to windows to remove fully geared firefighters from windows, prepared her for that moment.
Caldwell, who was born and raised in Worcester, said her mother was extremely proud of the state recognition so early in her career.
That speaks volumes, Caldwell said, because her mother initially didn't want her to enter the profession, because of its inherent dangers.
But now, "she sees how much I love it, and she thinks I'm comfortable with it and I think that makes her comfortable with it," Caldwell said.
"I feel like when you think of firefighting, you just think of going in a building and putting a fire out," she said. "But until you get to the academy and actually see all the other stuff that comes with it, and the training - and there's a lot of training and a lot of knowledge that comes with the experience that you get taught."
While in high school, Caldwell said, her best friend's father was a retired Worcester firefighter who exposed her different things about the profession. She said she took an interest, and enrolled in a fire psychology class in college. She said she eventually fell in love with firefighting.
Before joining the Worcester Fire Department, she was a volunteer firefighter for Holden.
Given her initial concerns about her physical strength and resolve, Caldwell said, she began her career thinking she would give it a try.
"But then I got on and saw other women who've been doing it for 20 or so years, and how far they had gone into their careers, and I physically trained harder," she said. "I feel like with any job, if you want to do it, and you love it, you've got to figure out a way to do it and get it done."
As a member of the department, Caldwell said, her gender has never been an issue.
"Honestly, once you're on the job, it doesn't seem like there's a difference (between men and women)," she said. "You worry about it at first, but once you're in there, there are no worries. Nobody makes you feel less than them."
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