MARYSVILLE – Women are making gains in the job market in many areas, but one where they are still lacking is firefighting.

A survey of our seven local firefighting departments shows about one woman for every 15 men.

Marysville Fire Chief Martin McFalls said, “It’s a huge challenge for us.”

He added there’s a huge discrepancy nationwide, with only 1.5 percent of firefighters being women. Statewide the number is 3 percent. “We’re always trying to recruit” women, McFalls said.

In working with Everett Community College, McFalls said they tell him it’s hard to get women into traditionally male-dominated fields, such as police and fire. But EvCC faces the same challenge in getting men into female-dominated fields, such as nursing.

McFalls said women have to do everything men do in firefighting. But he said in an attempt to even things out a bit the physical testing is “less male slanted for upper body strength – less strong man,” than it used to be.

McFalls said women in the department are highly respected for their dedication, hard work, determination, and mental and physical toughness. He added that many of the women are better than men at “connecting with people, which is so valuable.” McFalls said he would like to have more women on staff so it would “mirror the community.”

One of his female medic-firefighters, Kate Songhurst, feels the same way.

Songhurst said the profession has become more female friendly, but it still has a way to go.

“The culture and society needs to change so when my daughter grows up she and her friends can realize what an awesome career it is.”

While it’s less of a “good old boys” club than in the past, she said the department should reflect the community. “It’s not ninety-percent men,” she said.

Songhurst said the department should work more with high schools to encourage women to join. Because she’s in the minority, Songhurst said she has to “win people over with kindness.”

She said she was fortunate because there were women in the state firefighters’ academy when she went, along with women in Marysville, including her mentor, Krista Longspaugh. “She’s the quinntesential firefighter with a heart of gold,” Songhurst said.

They go to the gym at 5 a.m. every day. “To be taken seriously you have to be overly prepared for everything,” she said.

She has seen many women quit over the years because it’s so hard. Just landing a job is tough.

“It’s very competitive,” she said, adding most firefighters are part-time for about five years, and the pay and hours are terrible and benefits nil. “You have to have a lot of life experience under you and have empathy for life situations” to get hired, she said.

Songhurst has had two children during her firefighter career. “They were raised in the fire station,” she said.

She said her schedule is good for a mom because she works 24 hours, gets 24 hours off, works 24 hours, then gets a number of days off.

“It’s wonderful for volunteering” at her kids’ schools, she said.

The long shifts can be tiring, however. “We’re always inundated with calls,” she said. “We never sleep.”

Songhurst, who has been with the department for 11 years, said it’s a hard job, but worth it.

“You get told ‘no’ a lot,” she said. “And you have to be on your game every single day.”

Like most firefighters she was interested in helping others, but after taking a sociology class in college she was “infuriated that men and women don’t make the same money for the same job. I want to make that right.”

Krista Longspaugh was the first paid full-time woman firefighter in Marysville. She has been in the department for 20 years, 17 as a driver. She said she doesn’t feel intimidated by the men.

“There are no borders anymore. I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she said.

Being a woman, Longspaugh said she feels she does have to “prove herself more – stand out more.”

Her supervisor, Capt. Chad Hale, said she does stand out. “Pound for pound she’s the strongest person I know.”

He said once he saw her carrying some heavy equipment, and she wouldn’t let him help. “My purse is heavier than this,” she told him.

She said women have changed the conversations in the department, and it’s been good for the mental health of the men. “They’re more personal and open up,” she said.

Longspaugh said there are 10 good calls where they can make a difference for every one bad call.

“Some never leave you,” she admitted.

Hayley Bustad became a part-timer in May. She had been working with children with autism as a behavioral technician. To make a living she still is doing that part-time, too.

The toughest part of the job has been the “unknown. You don’t know what you’re doing to, so you rely on instinct,” she said.

Bustad, who graduated from Lakewood High School in 2008, said she’s surprised where she is in life. When she was younger, she thought she’d be a dental hygienist or “something girly.”

Instead, she’s doing the tough workouts in Crossfit, “which is big in the fire department.”

Now 26, she said she hopes to become a full-timer by 30.

“I don’t feel discriminated against or judged,” she said of the male majority.

Capt. Chad Hale said those three women set a “standard all firefighters” should strive for. “They don’t want special privileges,” he said.

Hale said the “female persona” comes in handy, especially when dealing with an agitated man at the scene of a call.

Women can “diffuse situations. The last thing they want is a male showing up. It’s a gift to put people at ease.”

One bad thing about women in the department is “lonely guys,” Hale said, only half-joking. Of one man, Hale said, “His face lit up like Christmas” when a woman firefighter showed up. A little later, the man called again. But that time, Hale didn’t send a woman. The man’s calls stopped.

Hale, who used to work in construction, said it’s not easy for anyone to become a firefighter. It took him 2 1/2 years. Hale teaches at Everett Community College and is always trying to get women to take firefighting as a career path, especially as medics.

He said women can learn how to do most things the men can. For example, if they don’t have enough upper-body strength, they can be taught to lift something like a ladder with their legs.

“We can work with them to enhance” their strength, Hale said. “We’re trying to break the mold that firefighters are tough guys. You don’t have to be superman.”

Smaller rural districts nearby also have some women firefighters, especially Snohomish County District 19 in Silvana, which has five.

Cassandra Waite of Arlington is working her first firefighter job, getting her “feet wet” as a part-timer. She studied law enforcement in her early 20s, then worked in the software industry. “I had a lull in my career, and I was looking for a change,” she said.

She read the career advisement book, “What Color Is Your Parachute?” then noticed a woman firefighter in a grocery store. Prior to that she thought it was for “guys only. A man’s job. But this was one-hundred percent what I wanted to do.”

She works up to 24 hours a week there, and just got on at the Granite Falls department part-time, too.

“It’s exciting helping people,” she said. “It gets the adrenaline going.”

Waite said she likes her community-oriented district. While there aren’t many fire calls, they often respond to mutual aid calls.

She said a couple of things have been tough in this career. One was the physical testing. At 5-foot-2, she was challenged.

“I thought I was pretty active and prepared,” she said. “There’s a huge focus on strength – more explosive, dynamic movements.”

To pass, she had to go through an obstacle course in 10 minutes, 20 seconds or less. While she likes to hike and mountain bike, she trained for the test by carrying up to 75 pounds in weights on a stair climber. “I don’t know how a female could get away without working on strength,” she said.

The other hard thing was the academy. The only other woman there quit. “The academy was tough on me,” Waite said. “I didn’t have anyone to identify with.”

She was so happy to land in Silvana where there are other women. “I was instantly welcomed and appreciated,” she said.

Her fire chief, Keith Strotz, said he doesn’t know why so many women end up there, other than, “It’s a stepping stone for them.” “There’s a lot more (women) trying to get into the business than ten years ago,” he added.

For Arlington Fire Department’s Anna Trenouth, fighting fires wasn’t even on her career radar growing up. “It was just kind of a fluke,” she said.

Trenouth studied at Western Washington University to become a teacher. When a friend told her to consider volunteer firefighting, she was skeptical. But, “I went to train, and when I got there, it was awesome.”

The mother of four said it altered her career path. “As you’ve probably heard, it’s one of the greatest jobs,” she said.

Trenouth served six years as a volunteer in other fire departments, starting off with EMT training, then completing Fire Training Academy I training. It took awhile to get on part-time at Arlington during the recession. She has been a full-time firefighter since January 2015. She said every firefighter brings their own skill set to the table regardless of gender.

If anything, Trenouth said, “For me it’s more life experience, maturity, dealing with children, dealing with the elderly and communication skills.”

While the number of women in firefighting is low, she sees small signs of change. When she drove the hook and ladder truck in Arlington’s 4th of July parade and waved out the window, she could hear young girls above the din of the crowds saying, ‘Wow, she’s a firefighter.’”

If the girls had asked her about becoming a firefighter, she would have told them: “Put your bodies to the test. It’s physically demanding, and there is lots of training. Give it a shot if it’s something you want to try.”

Jordan Misocky is a member of the Arlington Fire Department as a part-time firefighter/EMT. She attended Washington State University to become a nurse, but changed to being a physical assistant and finally to kinesiology.

Misocky remembered that as her time in college winded down, she observed a truism all too familiar in the workforce.

“I wanted to make sure I would end of doing a job in a career that I enjoyed every year, after hearing and seeing some people who weren’t happy with their chosen profession,” she said.

When she got involved in EMT studies at EvCC, she met her mentor, EMT instructor and Marysville Capt. Dan Schwartz.

“He loves his job,” Misocky said. “I talked to him, and he really inspired me to enter the field.”

She completed basic fire academy training at EvCC. She has since completed her EMT certification, Firefighter I and II, Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations certifications at EvCC.

Misocky credits Arlington Capt. Phil Knepper, another instructor at EvCC, for encouraging her to interview at Arlington.

She loves working there. “Coming here was a great thing to do,” Misocky said. “Down-to-earth people work here.”

Misocky said she is a quick learner, detail-oriented helping patients on emergency calls.

She wanted a job that would be physically and mentally demanding yet rewarding, something that fit the way she lives her life. “I was always capable, and never doubted myself,” she said.

Arlington Deputy Fire Chief Tom Cooper said women have the same physical and mental toughness as their fellow first responders.

“They’re a good fit, and they bring a whole new dimension and dynamic to the calls that we go out on – in a positive way,” Cooper said.