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Hen had enough of being the only woman in the station. She had enough of barely seeing any women in the fire department at all. So she decided it was time to do something. What? She didn't know yet, but she would figure it out.
She spent a whole evening at work, on her phone researching it and trying to find a solution. Until she found it. Girls on Fire. It was a program to teach girls about firefighting in the hopes that some of them would decide to join the fire department. Hen loved it. She wanted it here in LA. It was already implemented in various cities across the country. She could do it. But she needed help. She learned that the firefighter who started it visited cities to help put it in place, but they weren't there yet. First, Hen needed to put together a proposal and get approval from the city.
She decided to take a few days leave and go to Chicago to meet Stella Kidd, see the program and get help in convincing her superiors to let her do it.
"Hi, welcome to Chicago. Been here before?" Stella said when Hen got to firehouse 51 and introduced herself.
"Never. Didn't realise it would be so cold."
"That's nothing, barely fall, wait til winter then you'll feel real cold."
"As someone who comes from eternal summer, this feels like real cold. But I'll manage."
"Yeah, dual paramedic and firefighter, I'm sure you can handle anything we throw at you."
A minute later, Stella had introduced her to the rest of the house and they were sharing stories of calls. The 118 was mostly composed of younger people, but 51 had people who had been on the job forever, some had even gone to New York to help with 9/11. The stories were fascinating.
Hen was instantly jealous of the fact they had several women in the house, still not enough, but four was better than one. And one of them had come from the Girls on Fire program, proving it could work.
The next day, Hen got to see a session of Girls on Fire. The girls were so into it, so excited. Hen wanted that in LA. She didn't care how much more work it would be, she had to do it. She'd already talked to Karen about it and she understood. Besides, she could probably do most of that work during shift.
"Does your husband mind that you spend time on this instead of home with him?"
"No. He has his own thing too. Don't know how that'll pan out once we have kids, but I'll figure it out, maybe get someone to handle the program for me in the first few months."
"Kids take up a lot of time, but I think I can manage both. My wife is very supportive."
"That's the best, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Hen smiled. She and Stella had lucked out on partners.
As she watched Stella train the group, it was the girls' excitement that really sold it for Hen. They wanted this, they enjoyed learning firefighting. She wished her superiors could see the faces of these girls right now. There was hope for Chicago and Hen had never desired more to bring this program to LA. These were girls who voluntarily spent their free time running fire drills and some started to dream of a day where it wouldn't be a drill anymore.
The task of bringing this program to life was something in itself, but it was made so much easier by the fact it already existed and Hen had help. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to build Girls on Fire from scratch, alone. Hen was utterly impressed by Stella.
After 51 went on a few calls, it started going dark outside while they had dinner. Already, commented Hen, but she was told it was fall and that happened. She wasn't used to the seasons like they were and part of her felt like they were missing something in LA, some magic of seeing all the changes. Then she remembered they didn't have to deal with rain or, god forbid, snow and she felt better.
Stella and Hen settled at the table to work on the proposal together. Stella had somehow unburied her stuff from when she proposed the project herself years ago to see how she did it and what could help. What really helped Stella though was a woman among the higher ups who joined in on the project. Hen knew a battalion chief, Miranda Williams, who, while not the highest rank, could probably help, and she would have to go to her first. She thanked Stella for her help and went home.
Miranda Williams had many responsibilities. She was a busy woman. Hen knew that, but she also knew that the proposal she and Stella had prepared would not waste her time. Girls on Fire was a good, proven program, all it needed was support to make it into the LAFD.
"So you want to train girls to become firefighters?"
"Yes. I want to encourage young women to pursue this line of work, to envision the LAFD as a potential career path. I want to empower them and make them see that whatever boys do they can do too."
"You know what? I like that. And I've heard of this program before. I'm glad to learn more about it. And, most importantly, I'm happy to hear someone here is willing to put it together. That will require hours of your time. To plan lessons and give them. To recruit these young women and guide them. But if you are committed to this project, I am behind you one hundred percent."
"I thought about this carefully. I even traveled to Chicago to get advice from lieutenant Kidd who started this. I am ready. I really want this."
"Then let's go take this proposal to the chief."
"Girls don't want to become firefighters,this is LA, all they're interested in is singing or acting"
They had done their whole proposal and here was the chief's answer, but they couldn't let that discourage them.
"The goal of this is to get them interested. They can't all become actresses and singers, this is an alternate path we're teaching them."
"With all due respect," Miranda said, "the department is having recruitment issues. This is a way to help encourage more people to become firefighters. This could help raise recruitment."
"Women."
"Yes. As you can see by both our records, women can do great as firefighters. I am battalion chief. And you offered a captain's position to Wilson. More like us would be an asset, don't you think?"
"Alright, fine. I'll approve it. You can run Girls on Fire from station 118. But I do not want it to interfere with calls. You get a call and you drop everything and go, those girls will just have to wait. Understood?"
"That's the spirit," said Miranda.
"Thanks, chief," Hen said and she and Miranda left.
She had done it. She had established this program in her city and now there might eventually be more women in the LAFD. She was proud and excited for this new journey ahead of her.