SUPERIOR, Wis. — Less than 5% of career firefighters are women, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.

The Superior Fire Department has more than doubled that statistic, with 11% of its workforce being women.

Breena Kolquist has been in the department for about six months and said it’s a job she’s proud to have.

“It’s been a really great opportunity,” Kolquist said. “I’m really grateful to have the opportunity. Representation is important in a lot of work. It goes the same for fire.”

Chief Camron Vollbrecht said these women are setting a positive example for the industry and the area. He said the department is always recruiting for more first responders.

“It’s exciting for our community, for young women all over, that get to see them when they go to the schools, on medical calls,” Vollbrecht said. “When they see them going down the street, running calls. Because those young ladies say, ‘Hey, that could be me. I could do that. I could be a firefighter.’”

Fire Captain Suzi Olson started in the fire service 25 years ago and was one of Superior’s first female firefighters.

(Spectrum News 1/Megan Marshall)

“I never at any point thought this would be happening,” Olson said. “I figured I would always and forever be a minority in my department.”

Olson said it wasn’t always easy being a female in the fire service. She said when she first started, she faced a lot of backlash and had a tough time navigating being a female in this field.

Now, she’s happy the women on the force are being welcomed, accepted and celebrated.

“It makes me really proud to think that the story that I have, the beginnings that I had at the fire department will never be the story that these women coming on will have to experience,” said Olson. “It stinks that I had to go through some of the things that I did, but it makes me proud to see the transition in the department.”

(Spectrum News 1/Megan Marshall)

The third and youngest member of the all-female medic team is Abby Dolsen. She’s been on the job for around nine months and she drives the truck to most calls they go on. She said she loves being able to help people.

“It’s a different type of camaraderie and it’s been really fun to be a part of it,” Dolsen said.

The women said a more diverse workforce of paramedics and firefighters benefits the industry and every community that relies on them.

“It is important to have women in the fire service,” Kolquist said. “We have different skills. We all do the same job. We are expected to do the same things, and we do, but we bring a different strength to calls.”