‘I will never be the weakest link’: McHenry County women firefighters talk life in the fire service

Being a woman and a firefighter is not a new phenomenon, but it still is much less common than their male counterparts.

According to womeninfire.org, 9% of U.S. firefighters were women in 2022, up from 7% in 2017.

Six McHenry County firefighters spoke to the Northwest Herald about their experiences. Their ages, years in the fire service, reasons for getting into the line of work and histories were as varied as any group. But each agreed: They are firefighters who happen to be women.

Some said they are the only female in their department or one of just two or three, and often the only woman working their shift. Others have female colleagues, including on the same rotation.

But they also note that as the number of women in the fire service has grown, so has their acceptance in fire stations. Their place in the department has been firmly cemented, via the “family” that life in a fire station creates among its members, they said.

Heather Yoder, 48, a captain with the Marengo Fire Protection District, has 19 years in the fire service, and is one of six women in the department.

Sandra Valdez, 20, has been a firefighter for a year and is one of three or four women at the Hebron-Alden-Greenwood Fire Protection District.

Montana Anderson, 27, serves part-time on both the Marengo and Harvard departments.

At Harvard, “I am the only medic in the whole district, and 99% of the time I am the only woman on shift as a medic,” she said.

Crystal Saenz, 29, is on the Woodstock Fire/Rescue District, and is one of four or five women.

Ginelle Hennessey, 31, works part time at the Wonder Lake Fire Protection District, where there are six or seven women out of about 35 firefighters.

Angie Bishop, 31, of the Algonquin/Lake in the Hills District has been a firefighter for four years and is the only woman on staff.

I decided at that moment ... this is my passion. It is the best job in the freaking world.”

—  Crystal Saenz, Woodstock Fire/Rescue District firefighter

Yoder was 26 when she first applied for the fire service.

“I started as a ride-along, just interested in the EMS side of things,” Yoder said.

But to get on the department she had to be both a firefighter and an emergency medical technician.

“I took the leap and ended up loving the fire service,” she said. “I melded the two [jobs] and went with it.”

A cousin who was a firefighter encouraged Anderson to apply.

“She was on Harvard [fire department]. She became my mentor” and was there, Anderson said, when she responded to her first bad car crash.

“I was the medic, and she was like, ‘You are good’ ” on that scene, Anderson said, adding that was when she realized “maybe I am not going to mess this up. I was able to help this person.”

Valdez, the youngest of the group, said Yoder’s experience was similar to hers. She only wanted to do the emergency medical services side of fire/rescue.

“I did my ride-alongs and my clinical. I loved the ride-alongs” for fire calls, she said.

The women said their biggest challenges have not been physical. They’ve all met the standards set out for firefighters: Each must be able to wear their equipment or an equivalent of that equipment while climbing stairs, throwing up ladders and pulling fire hoses, regardless of their size and gender.

There was a time, Hennessey said, when each department had a separate set of standards for men and women firefighters, including their own agility tests.

Now, “they are making it more standardized throughout,” Hennessey said.

“Everything is equal,” Bishop said. “There is no age, weight, anything” that is taken into account to pass their physical tests.

She said her gear is one-third of her body weight.

“It does not feel like gear,” she said of the vests they wear for those tests. “It feels like it is pushing me to the floor. I am a lot stronger than I look.”

But fire doesn’t discriminate, Saenz said.

“You are not going to not throw this ladder because it is 120 pounds, and there is a person on the second floor waiting to be rescued,” Saenz said. “We do the same job, and we work hard for it, too.”

Learning how to do the work – pulling a ladder that weighs as much as they do, throwing that ladder against a building, carrying victims, making forcible entry into a structure – takes training. Several of the firefighters credited the help they got from an experienced staff to prepare them for success.

“You hear about ‘the brotherhood’” in fire departments, Valdez said. “It is like a family,” she said, and that family taught her how to throw a ladder despite her short stature.

But the first time she put in an airway, “I knew what I was doing. I said, ‘I got this, guys.’”

For Hennessey, the brotherhood includes her own brother. Also a firefighter, “he 100% put his arm around me and showed me the way,” she said. “I don’t feel like I have to live up to my brother’s expectations, but ... I have to live under my brother’s reputation,” which she said pushed her to succeed.

It wasn’t always easy, Saenz said. When she started, one older crew member told her that she should quit.

“He straight-up told me to change careers, that I should not be a firefighter. Everybody else was completely different and not like that at all. They drove me. I decided at that moment ... this is my passion. It is the best job in the freaking world.”

Bishop said she was able to build trust with her crew the same way every firefighter does: by doing the job well.

“My viewpoint of women in the fire service ... is we don’t like to look at it as ‘women in the fire service.’ When you separate yourself, you have a problem. That is where you start to have issues.

“I worked very hard to get where I am at, and confident in my ability. I may not be as strong as some people, but you can skin a cat nine ways, and I will figure out eight of them,” Bishop said. “I will never be the weakest link.”

It’s also a field that has, in recent years, struggled to find applicants. In Springfield last year, the Illinois General Assembly approved the creation of a Recruiting and Retaining Public Employee Firefighters and Paramedics Task Force “to identify solutions to the shortage of eligible applicants for the position of firefighter and/or paramedic.”

It is a career the firefighters encouraged young women to consider.

“It is intimidating, for sure. That keeps a lot of women from doing it,” Bishop said. “But if you are passionate about it, showing up to work, doing the training at work ... women like the challenge and being tested.”

Yoder teaches fire science and EMS courses at McHenry County College. She also visits area high schools to talk about criminal justice, fire and EMS programs.

“I love being a part of that, using my experience and passion for teaching,” Yoder said. “They are great jobs to be a part of.”