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First all-female fire crew makes station history

Isabella Boneham,West Midlandsand
Mollie Green,BBC CWR presenter
Dan Turner Four women, wearing a fire fighters uniform of khaki jacket and trousers line up in front of a red fire engine. The jackets and trousers have a flourescent trim. Four yellow helmets are on the floor in front of them.Dan Turner
From left to right: Firefighter Jess Gould, Firefighter Jade Loomes, Development Firefighter Rebecca Hall and Crew Commander Dawn Roodhouse

A station manager said it "felt electric" when an all-female firefighter crew was on duty for the very first time.

Nuneaton Fire Station marked a significant moment in its history when the all-female crew were on duty together on Sunday, collectively bringing almost 44 years of experience.

Dawn Roodhouse, who started her career when she was 18, told BBC CWR that to have an all-female crew was fantastic and the fire service needs more women.

"I was the third woman in the service to join when I started my career and I think the more women we have the more of chance we have to change attitudes," she added.

Dawn Roodhouse A young woman wearing a yellow hard hat and black jacket smiles in to the camera. The photo is a bit old and grainy looking.Dawn Roodhouse
18-year-old Dawn Roodhouse when she started her career in the fire service

Alongside Roodhouse, firefighters Jess Gould, Jade Loomes and Rebecca Hall made up the station's first all-female crew on duty.

Roodhouse said she hopes all-female firefighter crews will become a more regular feature in the future.

"It should not be a special thing having an all-female crew," she added.

Roodhouse completed her training in Chorley, Lancashire, 30 years ago, and said she did not work with another woman for 14 years until she went to Leamington Spa.

She recalled how to enter the fire service she had to cut her hair off and be able to expand her chest by an inch and a half – a standard medical and physical test used for decades by fire departments globally.

'I had to prove myself'

Roodhouse told BBC CWR that during her training she even saw other trainees moving away from her during drills.

"Maybe they thought I could not life heavy things, until they saw that I could do it, and by the end they all shook my hand saying, 'we would have you on our watch any day'.

"I won't lie there were some eyebrows when I joined and I had to prove myself".

Roodhouse said that the service has come on "leaps and bounds" since then, and women now make up 9.7% of full-time firefighters in England (3,310), up from 4.7% a decade ago.

However, she added that she wants to see more women in the service.

"I am really proud of how I fearless I was as a young woman, and I really want other young women to be able to see that if I can do it, they can also do it."

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