MORRISVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — Women fight fires too, and local fire departments want to recruit more of them.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, fewer than 5 percent of career firefighters are women, but Morrisville’s fire department is actively working to change that.
Whether responding to a car crash or a house in flames, women in Morrisville are ready to save lives and serve their community.
Evelyn Peoples is the first woman to go through Morrisville’s fire academy.
“I wanted a job that was mentally and physically challenging,” she explained. “It was maybe a little bit intimidating at first, but I’m finding good role models along the way.”
Natasha Byrd is among those role models. Several years ago she left a career in pharmaceuticals to become a firefighter.
“I always liked the idea of being a firefighter, and just went for it,” she said.
When she told some people about her decision, though, she didn’t get much encouragement.
“I was told I would never be able to succeed in the fire service,” she recalled. “They told me that women just don’t really make it.”
She proved them wrong and is now a master firefighter with the Morrisville Fire Department.
“We’re very open minded,” she explained. “I like to say that we are a new age fire department.”
Morrisville’s fire chief, Nathan Lozinsky, says his department is working to recruit more women by changing living arrangements to individual rooms, making sure there are opportunities to connect with family during 24-hour shifts, and ensuring accommodation for breastfeeding moms.
Byrd said she’s happy to see multiple women currently in the academy.
“We’re trying to have a whole new demographic here in Morrisville,” she noted.
Peoples says the atmosphere drew her to the department.
“I chose Morrisville because I wanted, like, the small-town feel,” she explained. “I think that it’s really important being a female, but also just being in a high-stress environment that you want to work with people who you are going to be really really close with, and here we kind of have that family dynamic.”
Both Byrd and Peoples hope their work will inspire young girls who also dream of being firefighters.
“It makes me want to do my job even better,” said Peoples. “Let them know that there’s not a gender boundary separating them from what they want to do.”