Women Firefighters:
Information & Issues

Who was the first woman firefighter?

As far as we currently know, the first woman to be paid for fighting fires was Sandra Forcier, who was hired as a Public Safety Officer -- a combination police officer and firefighter -- by the City of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on July 1, 1973. Forcier moved into a fire-only position four years later. Battalion Chief Sandra (Forcier) Waldron retired from Winston-Salem in 2004.

Judith Livers (now Judith Brewer) was hired as a firefighter by the Arlington County, Virginia, Fire Department in 1974, becoming the first woman ever hired into a strictly firefighing position. 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. She retired from Arlington County in late1999, at the rank of battalion chief.

Many other women were in the fire service before 1974. The earliest were volunteer firefighters in urban and small-town settings, who date back to the 1800's at least. Molly Williams was the first known woman firefighter, an African-American woman held as a slave 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.

How many women are firefighters?

In the U.S., around 6,200 women currently work as full-time, career firefighters and officers. Several hundred hold the rank of lieutenant or captain, and about 150 are district chiefs, battalion chiefs, division chiefs, or assistant chiefs. [All of these numbers increase every year; for the most recent available statistics and a state-by state breakdown of the numbers, see our Status Report]. While accurate figures on volunteer firefighters are difficult to obtain, it can be estimated that 35-40,000 women are in the volunteer fire service in the U.S.

Women are firefighters outside the U.S. as well. The most significant numbers are to be found in Great Britain, where more than 200 women are wholetime (career) firefighters and approximately 200 others serve in a retained (volunteer) capacity. Women firefighters can also be found in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, France, the Netherlands, South Africa, Ghana, Panama, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, and Brazil.

How many women are fire chiefs?

Women have served as chiefs of volunteer fire departments since at least the 1930's. While numbers of volunteer firefighters are, as noted above, difficult to obtain, there are certainly more than 150 female volunteer fire chiefs active in the U.S. at any given time.

As of January 2005, there were at least 25 career-level or combination (i.e., with some career and some volunteer personnel) fire agencies in the U.S. whose top-level chief was a woman. The first woman to head a career fire department, Chief Rosemary Bliss in Tiburon, California, retired in 2002 after nine years as fire chief.

What issues do female firefighters currently face?

The barriers that confront fire service women in the early 2000's are the same ones that face any traditionally excluded group beginning to make inroads in a new workplace. These issues stem from the history and tradition of firefighting as a male endeavor, and from societal constraints regarding men's and women's roles and perceived capabilities.

The main obstacles to women's full participation in firefighting can be summarized as follows: