These firefighting women made history in St. John's with the first all-female shift
'I get goosebumps when I think about it,' said Capt. Gina Burke
A recent shift at the St. John's Regional Fire Department had just about everything a firefighter could ask for, but the group of eight women on deck at Kent's Pond Station had a little added significance.
The shift marked the first time in the 130-year history of the department that an all-female crew deployed together.
It was a dream realized for Capt. Gina Burke, who was the first woman in the fire department in 1992.
"We're starting to get to a point now where we have enough girls that we'd be able to man a station, and we just started there and the ball just kept rolling," Burke told CBC News.
"I get goosebumps when I think about it. The only regret I would have is that I never got to do it longer."
Burke plans to retire after 33 years on the job in January, and said it was a special feeling to see the shift made a reality.
Jen Jenkins, one of the firefighters on duty that day, called it an unreal afternoon.
"I wasn't sure if we were going to get there, but every single year there was more and more females hired. And it finally happened," she said.
"It was everything that we wanted it to be. Like the girls said, it was super busy. We got calls from medical calls to alarm bells, in the evening we had a structure fire … and I think we nailed it."
Burke said she couldn't have been prouder over the crew's response, adding she knew everyone would be in safe hands.
"As soon as the girls got off the truck, I knew we were solid," she said. "They just outperformed a great percentage of the men in the job, they gave more than I would even ask for and I just have such a feeling of pride. It's unexplainable."
For firefighters like Melanie Barnes, the shift was an opportunity to showcase what women can accomplish in a male-dominated field.
"Women have so much strength, and I think that is overlooked in a lot of male-dominated roles," she said.
"I think the camaraderie was really there for us. We're so used to working [in] a male-dominated field that showing up to work that day and coming in here, and the smiles and just something totally new for us, the camaraderie was the best part about it."
Lt. Wendy Young said — justified or not — women in firefighting might feel the need to prove themselves more than men. But Sunday's shift showed the future is bright for women in the field.
"The experience was from 33 [years] with the captain, down to a brand new recruit who just got full-time who had a year experience," Brown said.
"Normally when you look around, you see males. So it was nice. Everybody had their own task that they had to do and overall it was just a good, positive feeling."
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With files from Peter Cowan