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Lack of respect because of your gender?
Have you ever gone mutual aid to another department and you report to staging and are ready to go and 'cuz your a chic you get the shit assignments??? by that i mean the exterior..not going inside to feel the heat???
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lori on
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yes! it happens all the time because they think that a women cant do what they can. But I do have an asst. Chief who really is pushing me to get in there and not let the guys walk all over me. The thing that gets me the most is even on accident scenes they do the same thing.
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Permalink Reply by Trina Billings on
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It's happen to me too but when i first started in the fire service i learn real quick if you let them run over you they will. So I started showing them i wasnt going to take there shit they try to make me stay out side i always make it in anyways.
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Permalink Reply by Amanda Dunlap on
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The guys don't mind me going in with them but I have been told straight up that men don't like going in with women because they feel they always need to look out for them. They don't feel they can do their job and focus on it fully because they're always having to keep one eye on their female partner. Even though I have told them that I can handle my own they just feel better looking back to make sure i'm okay. Now I don't know if this is everywhere but I live in SC and it may just be that southern gentlemen aspect in their personality :) in the fact they feel like they need to "protect" you because you're a woman. And I use the term "protect" loosely. I don't know I guess they just need to know you're okay. As far as going into the building I have had guys volunteer to go in with me. Especially the guys with more experience because they want me to learn and to gain experience b/c I am still training and haven't really had a chance to practice what i've been taught. I have also volunteered to go in with guys and they don't object especially if there isn't anyone else. Before I had certification though I was the first one looked at to go get the report book or the camera. I didnt mind though b/c I knew one day I would get to go in with them.
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Permalink Reply by Holly LaDuke on
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I know how you all feel. I had been with a Volunteer Fire Dept for 7 years and the guys were not nice to me
right from the beginning. I stuck with it for awhile. I thought if I showed them that I could pull my own & then
some that it would be okay. NO that was not true. I was from day one," that we like women in the Fire Service." I went to school to get my NPQ with NO help from my department & gear that was too small. I
contiued until I found a Department that took me as a female firefighter. I may not have my NPQ but I have FF1. I have 13 fire depts in Oglethorpe County, GA & only a few accept women. I have been firefighting for
8 years, now. I don't claim to know everything, but willing to learn more and more. I am still fighting on
every scene I go to, to perform my duties as a female firefighter! -
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Exactly it seems like I have more trouble out of the other women in our department than I do the men. As far as not wanting to help me with training or classes or just anything in general.
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Permalink Reply by Jenny on
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Guess I am pretty lucky. Our dept has always treated me the same as the guys. I've been on 13 years and am a third generation volunteer firefighter. although my dad and grandad were in a different dept. the only difference is the guys are a little more protective of me when we get a call on a drunk or druggy swinging or threatening on a rescue call. We were on a multiple structure, mutual aid call and the chief from another dept made the mistake of telling me I should stay in staging a little longer before going back in, our chief told him flat out that I could do anything his guys could do and was tougher. the guys even ask what I think on fires and how we should do things. at first I thought they were being sarcastic, but they weren't. Being a volunteer dept probably makes a difference though. If I were competing for higher pay or promotions, things might be different.
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I am in the Volunteer Fire Service and still get told & looked at that I am not strong enough. I have
made it clear to some of the other Departments and to Forestry that I can pull me weight & then
some. You are in a Department where other females have wanted to be. Where you don't have to
fight for what you can do. I was on a call where a hunter in his 70's fell 35 to 40 feet out of a deer
stand. He laid there for 2 hours before someone came looking for him. I was the second one out
there. I helped the EMT-I, package the patient and load him onto the Gator. I was right beside
the patient goimg through the woods and out to a waiting chopper. Me and the help of the others
standing around ( non-medical:DNR, Deputies) I told to help me load the patient into the chopper.
When I am on a scene as that I find the nearest people. -
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Permalink Reply by S. Fries on
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Sure, but its something you just work through and eventually it goes away. You have to have broad shoulders to work with a bunch of Type-A (I include myself with them) personalities anyway, female or not.
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Permalink Reply by David Hess on
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ok i've been in the fire service for over two years now and i know that most women can do the same jobs just as good as the men. If i got partnered up with a female firefighter i didn't care, unless she was lead and i had the most experience, but other then that women make great firefighters and having women involved in the fire service actually gets more men involved. Keep up the great work ladies! take care and be safe.
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Permalink Reply by Melody Anne on
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I am part of two departments right now. The one in my home town has a lot of older guys and with them im usually traffic control or P.R. but with my new job there is a lot of younger guys who have done nothing to help me out. Honestly its more about the type of people you are with. I have been in the department for two years now and as i learn more i get more respect. the guys i work with in the second department gained a lot of respect as i worked through my FF1 tactics and passed on the first try. I dotn claim to know everything so when i ask for help they are always right there to help me out.
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Permalink Reply by Michelle Robertson on
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That's a tough one. I've been in the Company for 22 years now and the Company we usually do Mutual Aid for has me as a Mutual Aid responder for their company. Once in a great while I'll hit a call for another company where someone young might not know me and try to pull one on me. In all honesty, my advice is grin and bear it......to a point. How long have you been in? If not long, it's possible that you're just earning your due at this point and it just seems it's becouse your female. If it really starts to get out of control, you need to go to your Chief and have a chat, let him/her deal w/ the other Company. You'll just lose respect if you come across as whiny and complaining. We walk a tight line sometimes, but most guys will respect you more for just dealing with it, without becomeing a doormat.
It was really tough when I joined my Company, I had to prove meyself over and over. Once you do that, you're usually good from there. Most guys nowadays are easier to deal with, it's the older ones that were harder on me. Keep your chin up and take no prisoners, lol. You'll do just fine. -
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I hear you there. I'm planning on a run for Asst. Chief shortly and keep getting blocked. This is the first time in years I've ever had a problem per say, but it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks they say. Keep at it, you get it yet and they will be blown away with how you handle things!
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