A few weeks ago, when Mountain View Fire Captain Jenna Graham saw her name on the schedule with her longtime colleagues, Alison Costello and Patty Juergens, she thought it was too good to be true. “And I thought, there’s no way this is going to stay like this, but it did!” Graham said. “It just feels wonderful for us. We’re used to operating with anyone and everyone in the department.”
It was the first time in the history of the department that there was a three-woman crew.
Captain Graham said she just had to document it and sent this picture to her chief. “He’s the one that put it on Facebook and he’s kinda the king of Facebook,” she explained
That post got them a lot of attention and made other female firefighters in the Bay Area proud to know them. “When you’re an all-women crew, people notice it, they speak to it. It’s just setting an example for them that women can do this job and that you can have an entire company of women performing to the same levels, if not exceeding the levels of the male companies.”
Only 4% of firefighters across the country are women.
These ladies say early outreach is key to inspiring the next generation of female firefighters. That’s why for the second year in a row, “NorCal Women in the Fire Service” is hosting an all-girls fire service camp.
“When you plant a seed early and start to water that and give it a little bit of sunshine, then it can grow,” Graham said.
Capt. Jenn Panko works with the Santa Clara Fire Department. She said, “After experiencing our girl’s fire camp, no matter what these young women decide to do for a career, they will leave our camp knowing that they can do a lot more and having the confidence they can do a lot more than they came in knowing that they could.”
The all-girls fire service camp will be staffed entirely by female firefighters from various parts of the country, including Texas and Alaska.
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