Only One Standard
TRAINING
Training should produce firefighters who meet the department standards, reasoned the staff of Pittsburgh’s academy. Whether the recruit is male or female is beside the point.
Last September, 31 recruits began a training program for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire. A third of them were female.
Although there was plenty of publicity and concern about the make-up of this class, no one had told the training staff what to expect or how to act. The only instruction was given by Chief John R. Leahy, Jr.: All recruits must meet the completion requirements or be dismissed.
The 12-week course consisted of subjects corresponding to National Fire Protection Association Standards 1001, “Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications,” and 1002, “Fire Apparatus Driver/Operator Professional Qualifications.” To be successful, recruits had to pass a U.S. Department of Transportation first responder course, a Pennsylvania Firefighter I certification test, and a departmental Firefighter II test. They also had to maintain a 70 percent academic average throughout the 12 weeks.
Because many people were uncertain whether the women would perform to the standards of previous, all-male classes, the training academy staff considered making sure everyone passed by reducing the quality and intensity of training. This would prevent an appeal or lawsuit should someone be dismissed because of not being able to meet the standard.
The staff rejected this possibility right away. It wouldn’t be fair to the recruits, because it would deprive them of available information and training. And it wouldn’t be fair to veteran personnel, because it would put lesser-trained firefighters on the job.
Four qualities are necessary to become a firefighter. The mental capacity to accept, understand, and apply the training; a medical history that indicates the person will be able to handle the stress of firefighting; and the physical strength necessary for firefighting are the first three. The city’s Civil Service Commission and Personnel Department had screened all applicants for these three qualities.
The fourth, the determination to become a firefighter, can’t be accurately measured in a screening test. The training program itself must discover this.
Each recruit has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses, as well as reasons for wanting to be a firefighter. And what one individual considers easy might be difficult for another. For example, for someone who has never climbed a ladder, climbing a ladder could be difficult until the individual overcomes the fear of climbing. For someone who has never been in a dark, smoke-filled room, being there could be traumatic until a trust in breathing apparatus and one’s own ability is developed.
To have the desire to be a firefighter, a person must change from an attitude of “I can’t” to one of “I can.” An individual must overcome fear and recognize his or her potential. When this crossover happens, not only are fear conquered and confidence gained, but the recruit’s actions and attitude reflect the confidence.
This is the essence of a training program. Training is more than just giving information and drilling in methods. Training must develop the confidence to perform firefighting. Neither fear nor confidence is limited to any particular group. Confidence is limited only to those who have overcome the obstacles to it.
And the biggest obstacle for women isn’t necessarily physical. Thus far, no one has been able to objectively prove that a woman can’t succeed at firefighter training or at being a firefighter.
The biggest obstacle is society.
The history of our society has determined a “male” role and a “female” role, developed, accepted, and propagated over time by the majority. Today, though, the courts are saying that society must change its concept of the female role so it can include occupations such as firefighting.
The courts have not, however, said how to make this attitude change. Nor will they allow fire departments to wait for society to catch up with the role definitions.
Toward the end of the recruit training for last fall’s class, one recruit was talking with a much larger firefighter. During the course of the conversation, the recruit said, “I don’t know if I could carry you out of a burning building, but I will try my damnedest.” This is the attitude of a firefighter, an attitude of confidence. The person who expressed it is female.
During training, the women were expected to perform as would any other firefighter. The result was that the women consider themselves firefighters, and they are firefighters. All the recruits met the same standard applied to previous classes. The program didn’t produce 10 female firefighters and 21 male firefighters; it produced 31 firefighters.
If the results of the training program didn’t create a distinction between male and female firefighters, what does? In fact, when all are dressed in the protectiveclothing envelope, and on the fireground, male and female firefighters are not distinguishable by their actions.
The problem in training women as firefighters isn’t the training or the firefighting, it’s society. Anyone with the proper qualities can become a firefighter. Society must make this realization, but unfortunately, it’s not an overnight process. Time and patience are necessary.
In the end, it is the fireground itself, devoid of all political, social, and economic considerations, that determines who can extinguish fire. Thus far, neither the training field nor the fireground has determined that a woman can’t be a firefighter.
