It was early in the morning of Sept. 1 when the alarm sounded in Station 6 in Kihei. As the truck passed Sugar Beach it was clear that the fires raging across the Pali weren’t going to be put out in one night. Engines 1 and 2 were already there when the Station 6 crew arrived. They had been concentrating on getting to the head of the fire and protecting the Wind Farm, so Engine 6—which had just four firefighters, the minimal crew—and a few tankers moved to protect the power lines and Ma`alaea itself.
Normally with large fires like the one on the Pali, firefighters mop it up or, as they say, “shoot it down well.” But in these fires, which ended up shutting down the Pali for virtually all of Sept. 1, high winds continuously re-ignited the flames. Fire crews found their only option was to “mitigate the damages”—monitor and protect the highway flanks and power lines. Being that it was a low brush fire, the crews worked together to “find a system” well into the morning.
“It was intense but it was fun,” firefighter Lani Gomes told me later. “The first day was just damage control and then after that we were just stomping out the smaller fires. We had very minimal water so we had to use hand tools a lot of the time.”
I told her how dramatic it had been for me to watch half the mountain lit up like embers in a bonfire. “Yeah, it was beautiful, though,” she said.
According to the Madison, Wisconsin-based group Women in the Fire Service Inc., there are more than 6,000 female firefighters in the United States. The state of Hawai`i currently employs 10 women in four different departments, with Maui claiming two of them. Gomes is one, working out of Station 6. Valerie Brandon is based at Station 13 in Kula.
A few weeks ago I met both women at Cafe Marc Aurel in Wailuku. Brandon arrived first. She wasn’t wearing a uniform and looked fresh from the beach, but I knew it had to be her. She looked as if she were in the best possible shape a woman could be in, possessing a professional athlete’s physique and body type that most women envy.
A few minutes later an ambulance pulled up and Gomes and her partner walked into the cafe. Gomes flashed me an infectious smile as she introduced herself. I could tell she was a Maui girl by the rhythm in her speech. It also turned that we had gone to Saint Anthony together. Not as tall as Brandon, she projected the feeling of someone who could hold her own.
The two women ordered coffee and we sat down. Brandon told me that firefighting wasn’t something she had always wanted to do. She had heard that the job was physically active and exciting, which convinced her that she would enjoy it.
First she took the department’s written test. Passing that, she took a two-day physical agility test. After that was a personal interview. The process took a year and a half—which was usual—and then the department accepted her and she eventually joined the team at Station 13.
It was somewhat similar for Gomes. She said it was important to her to be a part of the community. Before she had decided to be a firefighter, she had worked as an accountant but decided she needed a change of pace. She had always loved exercising and working out, and wanted to find a career that would stimulate her.
Firefighter training is rigorous and takes four months. Because they were both in top shape, they were more vertically than physically challenged. They explained that many of the obstacles encountered in the fitness tests were created for the height of a typical man. Even the shorter guys found themselves having to be resourceful at times.
Gomes said that their strength was more in agility and that their size sometimes came in handy. When it came to climbing ladders or crawling into a small opening, they said that their size is always useful.
“When it comes to extrication of cars, we can jump into the cars because we’re smaller,” Gomes said. “We’re more flexible too, so jumping into the window for a man can sometimes be awkward.
Brandon agreed. “In the beginning of training they tell you right away that two people will not make it,” she said. “So there is a competitive side to it, too. They do that on purpose: put you under a lot of stress to build your ability to tolerate stress on the job.
“It’s similar to military training where they break you down a bit and then build you back up,” Brandon added. “It’s almost every man for themselves while you’re in, but they’re a lot more supportive once you’re done.”
Brandon said that although firefighting was still predominantly a male endeavor, she felt that most men knew that women in the station houses was “the wave of the future.”
In searching the history of female firefighters, I found very little information about them, which is probably understandable, since there haven’t been very many of them. What surprised me though was that many of the stories I read were written in the early 1800’s and conveyed inspirational tales of women arbitrarily jumping into the line of duty.
In 1912, because of a shortage of daytime fire fighters, the Fire Chief of Los Angeles promoted the LAFD’s first all-women volunteer company. Led by Captain Marie Stack, it consisted of just two other women. But because of the vast size of the county, two other female companies formed soon after. One was called the Society Fire Department, while the other called themselves the Wilmington Park Fire Ladies. All were trained to work hand-drawn, two-wheel hose reels that had to be pulled on a rig down the street.
But it wasn’t until 1973 that Sandra Forcier became the first known paid firefighter. Once a Public Safety Officer, which is a combination of a police officer and a firefighter, she is now the Battalion Chief of the City of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In Hawai`i, we too have seen the winds of change. Debbie Eleneki, who came from a family of firefighters, recently became the first female to earn the rank of captain in the Honolulu Fire Department.
Even with today’s kids, female firefighters are still a novelty. Gomes told me how good it made her feel when the kids would come into the station on school field trips. “The little girls point and whisper to each other, ‘That’s a girl! Oh my God!’” she said.
Back in 2003 Brandon found herself battling a blaze on Molokai. “I was called over for one of those big ones and they were doing stand-offs,” she said. “The fire is 25 feet high or higher and you have to make a stand and you’re wondering whether we’re gonna be able to fight this thing off. The winds change direction and swirl and sometimes the fire comes right back at you. The theories they came up with for wild land fire fighting weren’t done on Molokai so it can get a little scary.”
As firefighters, Brandon and Gomes have to do everything from emergency medical response, “hazmat” (the handling of hazardous materials), rope rescue, swift water training and even just driving the truck. “You have to pick your strength and excel at that because there is no way to be an expert at all of them,” Brandon said.
I asked them what the least favorite parts of the job were. “Cooking,” Brandon teased. Gomes said it was the tragedies that occur within the medical portion of her work.
“Sometimes you lose people,” she said. “You just hope it’s not someone you or your family knows. We have a tendency to keep ourselves separate but there was a time that I had to respond to a good friend of mine and it was really hard. It was the only time I felt that I didn’t want to do what I was doing.”
“It’s common,” Brandon added. “We’ve had a few guys quit especially when it comes to fatalities with children. You really just hope it doesn’t happen.”
What frustrated them both were the “misconceptions” many people have with firefighters in general. Many seem to think that firefighters just hang out in the firehouse.
“It takes a lot of work,” Gomes said. “People think sometimes it’s a county job, you get to take naps, you get to play basketball and it’s a lot harder than that.”
“It takes a lot of dedication,” Brandon said. “You have to really want to do it. We are both the type of women that don’t give up. We never would have made it otherwise. It’s really been a great experience.”
Fire, with its mesmerizing colors and dangers, has always intrigued me. I was curious as to whether Brandon and Gomes were also lured by it. Gomes beamed shamelessly, agreeing that she loved getting as close as she could to the fire.
“Yeah, you definitely can’t be afraid of it,” Brandon said.
“I love the power of fire, it’s so unpredictable,” Gomes told me. “I love watching the state of it change from roaring in the wind to the mellowness of the kindling. Sometimes they’re so beautiful I just have to look at it for a little bit.” MTW
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