Making History
Lockwood Fire District witnesses a milestone with an all female firefighting crew
On Oct. 1, when the firefighting crew clocked in for their 12-hour shift at the Lockwood Fire District, they looked around and discovered a “first.” Lindsey Lambert was acting captain. Joining her was acting engineer Katie Haider and firefighter Shady Erhorn — an all-female firefighting crew.
“And, the district didn’t burn down,” Lindsey says with a chuckle.
The district had one medical call come in that day — a mental health call with a possible overdose.
“It was a pretty run-of-the-mill call for us,” Katie says.
“These fine firefighters/paramedics have done an outstanding job because of who they are, not just what they are,” Fire Chief Branden Stevens says, calling it a milestone in the district’s 36-year history.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Lindsey says.
“We’re privileged to work with two women on shift most of the time, and then we have our male counterpart, so it didn’t register right away,” Shady says.
Lockwood is a tightknit department. There are 16 full-time firefighters plus the fire chief and deputy chief. The department also has 11 reserve firefighters who help out part time. In all, six of them are women.
From L to R: Taya Keith, Lindsey Lambert, Katie Haider and Shady Erhorn. Not pictured are fellow female firefighters Quinn Fisher and Jessica Flanagan.
When you ask these women why they wanted to be firefighters, most laugh and say that they didn’t. While the road led here, for many it started by working as an EMT or paramedic.
“I ended up in Worden, Montana, and volunteered for their Volunteer Fire Service,” Lindsey says. “I mostly was on the ambulance and found out that I really love the pace of this job.” After serving as an emergency medical technician (EMT), she got the extra training to be a paramedic. “This job fell in my lap and the stars aligned,” she says.
Lindsey admits that she had a lot to prove to her colleagues and to herself as the first woman to join the department.
“At the time, I had a 3-month-old that I was breastfeeding,” she says. “People didn’t know if I could physically do that job. Just, to me now, silly worries. I had to trust myself and just prove that I could do it.”
Today, Lindsey is an engineer who serves as acting captain when needed. She was voted union president and is the district’s training officer.
“It’s a couple really big roles,” she says. “I feel like I am still getting my feet underneath me. At the end of the day, I want to make sure our people are represented, that we are well trained and that we go home safe after every shift.”
Four years after Lindsey arrived, Katie Haider was hired. In many ways, she says, Lindsey paved the way.
“Everyone was so encouraging, and seeing Lindsey as another woman in the department — not that I will ever hold a candle to her — proved that I could do it,” Katie says. “There’s a space for women in this career.” In addition to being an engineer, Katie serves as the department’s public information officer. She provides fire prevention education in the schools and also heads up child safety seat inspections.
While 20 percent of Lockwood’s fire staff are women, nationally that number is only 5 percent of career firefighters and 11 percent of volunteer firefighters.
Taya Keith is one of the department’s reserves. She may have a full-time job outside of this role, but a few times a month will pick up a shift helping as an EMT. Being a firefighter is all in the family for her.
“My older sister was a firefighter. I remembered by dad was a firefighter for a while as he was going to college and my younger sister was a firefighter,” she says with a smile. “I love it. Any chance you get to be tough and show how strong you are? Absolutely.” She’s been with the department for going on three years.
Shady loves the fact that their chief recognizes each of their strengths and puts them in roles where they can shine. Since the department is small, she says, you never know what you might encounter while on shift. It might be a structure fire, patient transport, a car wreck where the jaws of life are used, or a wildland fire.
“And we are growing,” Shady says. “We are growing in hazmat. We are growing in water rescue. Chief Stevens has a vision and he’s trusting us to get the training done to help him and us grow.”
Being former military, the chief put Shady in charge of uniforms. She also handles all the department’s personal protective equipment.
“It’s super important in the fire service today to be on top of that and have the best gear that we possibly can and she’s phenomenal at it,” Lindsey says.
The department handles just shy of 1,000 calls a year for this community of 10,000.
For Lindsey and the rest of the women on the department, each call is about service and about being good role models.
“Every day, we have the opportunity to give back to the community and show little girls that they can be anything that they want to be,” Lindsey says. “I love being able to do that.”
