CLEVELAND — Making sure police and fire department staffing is reflective of the community they serve has been a goal of many cities over the last few years. The Cleveland Fire Department has done several things to recruit more women, but one small change made a big difference.
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In January 2019, Lauren Phillips made history as Cleveland Fire's first female firefighter hired in 30 years. Lauren says once she joined the fire department, the women who were there before she retired, so for a while, it was just her.
“I don't really have an issue with it. I knew what I was coming into. I knew I was going to be surrounded by a bunch of dudes,” said Phillips.
She worked many days just hanging with the guys.
“If they know that we go to a fire or first responder I’m able to perform then nobody has an issue with it. So at the end of the day, they treat me just like the next guy,” said Phillips.
But here she is now, with a crew of other women.
“First thing I always get excited when another woman comes on,” said Phillips.
The Cleveland Division of Fire generally has about 750 firefighters. Of that, 14 are women who were recruited within the past few years.
According to the US Fire Administration Nationwide 5% of all career firefighters are women. According to Women in Fire, around half of all fire departments have no females.
“It's always just been, you know, kind of a guy's job, but women can do it,” said Phillips.
At Cleveland Fire, after Phillips was brought on, it said the department started to see more female recruits because they changed a few things.
“So some of that has been, you know, utilizing female candidates or female firefighters in some of our promotional materials, targeting areas where we think that there will be female candidates,” said Lieutenant Mike Norman, Public information officer for the Cleveland Division of Fire.
And they altered the fire training academy physical test that assesses a recruit's ability to complete job related tasks.
“The test evolved somewhat; it became the firefighter mile course that they use now at this time, and we found greater success and getting more female candidates by utilizing the firefighter miles,” said Lieutenant Norman.
Lieutenant Norman says the test changes and recruitment push is to diversify the department to better serve the city.
"It helps put the community at ease and it’s a good thing for the fire department if we represent the community we are serving,” said Lieutenant Norman.
They have the hopes of getting more firefighters like Phillips, who doesn’t plan on going anywhere and can't wait to see more gals in the field with her.
“I would push to say just study, workout work hard. I mean, there is a definite physical aspect to it. But if there's even a blip of it in your heart's desire, go for it, you got nothing to lose,” said Phillips.
