Taking the Heat-Women Firefighters

TAKING THE HEAT: The First Women Firefighters of New York City

By Bann Roy

ITVS Community is proud to support TAKING THE HEAT with a variety of community outreach events and materials, in anticipation of its national broadcast on Independent Lens on March 28, 2006.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:

They faced death threats on the job—from some of the men they worked with. With the story of Captain Brenda Berkman of the Fire Department of New York at its core, TAKING THE HEAT explores the history of women firefighters in America and the price these women paid to serve their communities

Broadcast premiere Tuesday, March 28 at 10 p.m. on PBS

http://itvs.org/outreach/takingtheheat/

Who was the first woman firefighter? The first woman to become a modern, paid firefighter was Judith Livers, who was hired by the Arlington County, Virginia, Fire Department in 1974. Helping her firefighter husband study for his fire science classes, Livers learned about the devastation fire can cause, and was motivated to become a firefighter herself. Now Judith Brewer, she retired from Arlington County in late 1999 as a Battalion Chief.

However, many other women were in the fire service before 1974. The earliest were volunteer firefighters in urban and small-town settings dating back to at least the 1800's. Molly Williams was the first known firefighter, an African-American woman held under slavery, who worked on Oceanus Engine Company 11 in New York City in 1818. Women have also worked as fire lookouts since the early 1900's and, beginning in the mid-1970's, as seasonal firefighters in the wildland sector.

In the U.S., approximately 5,200 women currently work as full-time, career firefighters and officers. Several hundred hold the rank of lieutenant or captain and about 60 are district chiefs, battalion chiefs, division chiefs, or assistant chiefs. (All of these numbers increase every year). While accurate figures on volunteer firefighters are difficult to obtain, it is estimated that 30,000-40,000 women are in the volunteer fire service in the U.S.

http://www.cobbfire.org/women.htm