July 12, 2005
Cheerleading or Firefighting, She Chose Fire!
"On the fire line, women find tough, rewarding career"
By JENNIFER DOBNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
"ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Jodi Fowler had a choice to make in 1998. Move to Arizona to try to land a spot on the Phoenix Suns cheerleading squad, or take a job fighting wildland fires for the Bureau of Land Management.
She chose the fires - ditching the pompons and crowds for a fire-retardant uniform, a hard hat and a half hatchet-half pick took known as a Pulaski.
"It's an adrenaline rush," said the 28-year-old Richfield, Utah, native. "It's a lot like performing, but you're doing something. You're helping people out."
Fowler is part of the second generation of women making wildland firefighting a career. She works for the Dixie National Forest on a St. George-based helicopter crew, called "helitack",
Described by some as once being a "testosterone-driven boys club," women have and are making their mark in the industry from the fire lines to management.
"It's a great thing to do," says Becky May, a retired division chief on California's Shasta-Trinity National Forest, who was among the first women to choose the career some 30 years ago.
"The work is very rewarding and you learn so much about yourself, your strengths and your limits."
In 1976, May was a 20-year-old Oregon college student when she landed a summer job on a brush disposal crew on the Willamette National Forest. She was studying forestry......" To story
Tag: female firefighter
By JENNIFER DOBNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
"ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Jodi Fowler had a choice to make in 1998. Move to Arizona to try to land a spot on the Phoenix Suns cheerleading squad, or take a job fighting wildland fires for the Bureau of Land Management.
She chose the fires - ditching the pompons and crowds for a fire-retardant uniform, a hard hat and a half hatchet-half pick took known as a Pulaski.
"It's an adrenaline rush," said the 28-year-old Richfield, Utah, native. "It's a lot like performing, but you're doing something. You're helping people out."
Fowler is part of the second generation of women making wildland firefighting a career. She works for the Dixie National Forest on a St. George-based helicopter crew, called "helitack",
Described by some as once being a "testosterone-driven boys club," women have and are making their mark in the industry from the fire lines to management.
"It's a great thing to do," says Becky May, a retired division chief on California's Shasta-Trinity National Forest, who was among the first women to choose the career some 30 years ago.
"The work is very rewarding and you learn so much about yourself, your strengths and your limits."
In 1976, May was a 20-year-old Oregon college student when she landed a summer job on a brush disposal crew on the Willamette National Forest. She was studying forestry......" To story
Tag: female firefighter
