CLEVELAND — The city is making investments to make fire stations more inclusive to women.

What You Need To Know

  • According to Women in Fire, there are only 6,200 women in the U.S. currently serving as full-time, career firefighters

  • Cleveland City Council’s legislation would provide separate sleeping areas, bathrooms and showers for female firefighters

  • Ann Burrell is a firefighter and paramedic for the city of Blue Ash. She’s happy to see the industry becoming more inclusive

Ann Burrell was in college when she found a different career path.

“I was doing a job that I wasn’t too fond of, and I picked another avenue and I took my EMT class first, got hired at a local fire department as a paid on call employee and they paid for my fire school,” explained Burrell.

Burrell fell in love with firefighting, and she’s been at it ever since. 

“You get to chop open roofs. You get to destroy stuff. You get to help people, save people — it’s that whole culture. It’s like a family environment," Burrell said.

But the world of firefighting isn’t always easy for women who enter a mostly male-dominated industry. In her more than 20 years of working at different fire departments in Ohio, Burrell at some times has been the only woman on duty.

"When I first started in the fire service, there was basically a big room and there was just bunks and some of them had dividers, if you were fortunate. If you were very fortunate, you’d get like a cubicle in the corner or something like that.” 

Some fire departments across Ohio have taken action to be more inclusive to women. The city of Cleveland recently passed legislation to provide separate sleeping areas, bathrooms and showers for female firefighters. Burrell said initiatives like this can make for a better working environment. 

“It brings more  camaraderie amongst women, and it kind of gives them a quiet place separate from a male-dominated profession.” 

Burrell is a part of Women in Fire, a female firefighting advocacy organization, and she hopes departments across the state and country take similar steps so more women can share her love for being one of Ohio’s bravest. 

“I would tell them to have confidence and to go out there and enjoy it because there is a lot of advantages to it,” Burrell said to encourage women to try firefighting.

Cleveland currently has one female firefighter. The plan is expected to be completed through phases that will cost about $750,000. 

According to city council’s website, six stations will be addressed at an estimated cost of $85,000. A larger phase will come after at 16 fire houses.

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