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Seattle Voices

Topic: Strength and Stamina: Women in the Fire Department

5 Images

2 Images from Current Moment

Connections from Then to Today

Back then, women firefighters were not considered fit enough to be combat firefighters because they were thought not to have the physical capabilities for combat firefighting. The two images defy those beliefs as women are now doing the same duties as any other firefighters in combat firefighting. The second image portraying women firefighters in the current moment even reads “Female firefighters defy old ideas of can be an American hero.” This statement alone sums up how far women have come and how far female firefighters have broken through with regards to their human rights. It clearly shows that a lot of progress has been made in recognizing women as well capable as any other people in the fire department.

The story of women in Seattle Fire Department is an inspiring one. It is one that has seen a change in the composition of the department dramatically since the 1970s and 1980s. Those women have transformed the image of female firefighters from being viewed as unusual back then to it being considered usual today. It has taken a lot of perseverance, hard work, and courage. Even then when women joined the fire department in the 1970s, they were never successful. Women were often treated to a relatively different standard than men. In 1976 for instance, only six women were recruited to the Seattle Fire Department class where none of the six women were successful. By 2008, however, there were 93 women firefighters in the department out of the total 1,038 firefighters. This is about 9% and remains as a much higher percentage compared to the national average. Since then, women now work in all areas of Seattle’s Fire Department, including dispatchers, paramedics, firefighters, fire marshal inspectors, and dispatchers. In fact, the first women to join Seattle Fire Department back in 1980, Susan Rosenthal, was promoted into the position of the Department assistant chief and she became the first woman assistant chief and also was the highest-ranking woman in the department. To this day, women constitute 9-10 percent of Seattle's Fire Department, which is about 4 percent higher than the US national average.

https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/digital-document-libraries/women-in-the-fire-department

http://archives.seattle.gov/digital-collections/index.php/Detail/objects/218585

https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/seattle-voices/women-in-the-fire-department

https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/online-exhibits/strength-and-stamina-women-in-the-fire-department

https://www.portseattle.org/blog/first-female-battalion-chief-model-all

https://www.portseattle.org/page/women-firefighters-blaze-new-path