'When that beeper goes, you have no idea what you’re going to until you’re on the road’

“If you can see it, you can be it” - that is how Meath County Council Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Sarah Fitzpatrick described the importance of attracting and recruiting retained female fire fighters to join the service.

There has been a conscious effort to recruit more women in recent years and as I sat down with six female members some newly recruited, some there years, some stationed where we were in Nobber, others from Navan and Ashbourne, the one thing that was uniform was their dedication, commitment and passion for the role.

Sarah Fitzpatrick caught the bug from her father who was a fire fighter in The Guinness Fire Brigade, a dedicated emergency response service which operated within the compounds of St James's Gate Brewery in Dublin. But she also had another poignant reason to take fire safety seriously with her mother being present at one of the country's most tragic fire events.

“My mother is a Stardust survivor,” said Sarah. “She was there that night, she wasn't injured, she was one of the lucky ones,” she added.

“That always stuck with me so I was probably more pedantic doing inspections around buildings over the years especially when I saw doors with obstructions so it is always there in the background. The Fire Services Act is a legacy of the Stardust incident so it's very relevant.”

The Fire Services Act, 1981, was enacted in Ireland following the devastating Stardust fire in 1981, which resulted in the loss of 48 young lives. This act significantly strengthened fire safety regulations, including fire cover, training, fire planning, and prevention measures.

Having spent six years in Dublin Fire Brigade, Sarah took a role in her native county and has been working along side Chief Fire Officer, Sheila Broderick and team for the last two years.

“We look after operations, we keep the guy's boots on the ground,” she said.

“I look after training programmes, equipment checks, getting systems in place to make it easier for the guys, trying to make more things efficient, the list is really endless,” she added.

Macaire Hutchinson based in Nobber was the only female firefighter in Meath for five years. However six years on, more and more women are joining making the environment a more inclusive one but there were times she says she felt a need to prove herself.

“There were times like during training I felt like I needed to try five times harder than the men and then I felt like I wasn't allowed to have a moment in front of them, because you are trying to prove yourself the whole time,” said Macaire.

“But when that pager goes off and you arrive at the station it makes no difference whether you are male or female, you all work together as a team and everyone is equal,” she added.

“There's definitely a sense on social media that when people see female firefighters, they think that they can't do the job, but we never work by ourselves, ever, we're always within a team and we are just as capable as the men,” she added,

“Every time the alert goes off, you have no idea what it's going to be so you do get a bit of an adrenaline kick from it, it keeps you on your toes.”

Having seen the heroic efforts of firefighters in New York in the aftermath of 9/11, Navan based Sarah Blake who was working in the city at the time developed a huge admiration for the emergency responders as she explains:

“I was in New York for 9/11 and I was working in bars over there, and firefighters were coming in and they were talking about what they were facing everyday and I thought they were just amazing. So from then on, I had huge respect, it made a big impact in my life.”

It wasn't until many years later that Sarah who has been in the fire service for a year took the leap of faith and applied for the role but says she “hasn't looked back.”

“Every day is a learning day, not just with the training, but being on the job, and the amount equipment that we use, and the different scenarios we go to,” said Sarah.

“So obviously Fire and Rescue is what we are, the rescue part is generally road traffic collisions and we also do ambulance assists, along with swift water rescue,” she added.

“During the training you do basic firefighter skills for three weeks and you learn everything from basic pump operations to how to put up a ladder, we have a ladder that's 13.5 meters so it's a four man operation. So then I did my BA, which is our breathing apparatus training learning how to go into an atmosphere that doesn't sustain life so we use compressed air.

So basically you are in a burning building environment blacked out where you can't see a thing, you are feeling walls, you're trying not to lose yourself. You also complete CFBT ( Compartment Fire Behaviour Training) which is learning how fire behaves in a fine space before they let you into a burning building."

“So now I can go into any burning building as long as I have a tank in my back!”

Sarah says it is a role where you “never get comfortable.” She added:

“There's new equipment and new policies and procedures all the time so there's always something new to learn. When that beeper goes, you have no idea what you're heading into until you're on the road'

“At the time, your adrenaline is going and you have to follow whatever orders you're given. You don't have time to think about it. It's only afterwards you process it through counselling, or you just talk to colleagues There's great support within the stations. Everybody is there for everybody. Which is amazing.”

Kerri Dillon is Ashbourne's first female fire fighter. On duty since February of this year and having spent five years in the army prior her journey into the service has been an interesting one that started when she was a teen.

“When I was 16, I, coincidentally, was friends with my station officer's daughter, and his pager went off, and I saw him tear out of Tesco, and he dragged all of us into the car right, tore up to the station, and then we were told to stay there and I just thought this is amazing and that stuck with me,” remembers Kerri.

We did fire courses in the army, and I was always there. I thought that I was ready to apply years ago but I wasn't, I had to go and do other things.

“When I'm covered head to toe in dirt, smoke, debris, I'm at my happiest!”

The county's youngest female recruit, 23 year old Sarah Weldon says Macaire “paved the way for her” to join.

“ She's great mentor as are the other firefighters and officers as well.

“Everyone brings different things to the crew, people have different strengths and weaknesses. We all help each other, and working as part of a team is probably my favourite part of it.”

Having a supportive employer is really important according to Sarah who has praised Doughty's Mace Wilkinstown where she works for their understanding.

“It's vital because when the alert goes, you just have to drop everything and go.”