Three firefighters from Alpha fire company in State College responded to a fire call in College Township last Thursday.
What sounds like normal procedure turned into history as all three firefighters in the attack line were women.
One of the firefighters Talia Chaloch said they have been seeing more women in each class that comes in.
Chaloch told 6 News how every firefighter at Alpha is treated the same way.
“I’ve never thought of myself as being separate, I just think it’s so cool though that we’ve had people that are like, ‘Oh that’s maybe not very likely that you’ll have all women in an engine’ and it’s just kind of like it can happen and it does happen and it works out well in the end,” Chaloch said.
Chaloch described the fire as one of the biggest they had seen all year.
It led to fire companies from Boalsburg and Bellefonte to be called in.
Chaloch said that she had doubts when she was younger about what she could accomplish as a female firefighter.
Those doubts no longer exist – and for good reason.
“When I was little my home company didn’t have a lot of women, we maybe had 3 and my dad was in the fire department, he was one of their chiefs and I was always like, ‘Maybe that can be me someday’ but then there was also me as a little girl being like ‘Maybe that can’t be me someday’ and I think this was a good opportunity to be like ‘This could be me someday,’ Chaloch added. "I think little me is looking up and being like hey that’s pretty cool.”
One of the other firefighters involved was Kara Stover who also comes from a family of firefighters.
Stover told Channel 6 that being the first engine to respond came with all the emotions and that when they were riding over they weren’t thinking about making history – they were just ready to help out the best they could.
“I don’t view us any different from any of the guys, I just view us at the first engine in and the first crew in," said Stover. "We’re there to get the job done.”
Stover also said that doing what they do can be intimidating for some people – especially a woman.
Stover says it is important to never underestimate yourself.
“To all the girls out there I just want to say that you can do it," added Stover. "I’ve always kind of been underestimated growing up and it’s kind of taught me to be stronger than what I am and to never underestimate myself and just know that you can do it just as much as the guys can."
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