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In Need of More Volunteers, Fire Departments Are Turning to Women

Caitlin D’Alessandro, a firefighter, during a demonstration for journalists at the West Crescent Fire Station in Halfmoon, N.Y.Credit...Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

HALFMOON, N.Y. — Maggie Kuebler fought through pain as she wielded heavy power tools to free victims trapped in a mock vehicle accident, one of the many tests she underwent to become a volunteer firefighter.

Her 5-foot-7, 150-pound frame shook with exhaustion, but she refused to quit. She knew that some day she could face real life-or-death situations, just as her father, a former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer whose life of service she wanted to emulate, had.

Ms. Kuebler, 20, is among a growing number of women climbing tall aerial ladders or rescuing people from smoky rooms as members of New York State’s volunteer fire companies, which serve millions of residents in small towns and suburban communities that cannot afford paid professional departments.

“You just keep telling yourself, ‘I have to get this person out, I have to get the job done,’ ” said Ms. Kuebler, a volunteer with the Walton Fire Department in rural Delaware County.

Increasingly, fire officials believe they can.

This weekend, about 500 of the state’s 1,583 volunteer fire companies are hosting recruitment open houses. One of the main goals is to attract more women.

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Female firefighters inside the West Crescent station.Credit...Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

“I would go without hesitation into a burning building with any one of these women,” said John D’Alessandro, secretary of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York, a nonprofit group that provides information, education, training and advocacy for the state’s volunteer emergency services. “The standards, the expectations, are the same for everyone. All I want to know is you’ve got my back and I’ve got your back.”

Mr. D’Alessandro’s daughter, Caitlin, 21, a college student studying to become a paramedic, has also answered the call. For years, she watched her father and older brother, Evan, both volunteer firefighters, run out the door when alarms sounded. Then she decided, “Why not me?”

“It’s an incredibly tough job, man or woman,” said Ms. D’Alessandro, a volunteer with the Halfmoon Fire Department in Saratoga County. “But I love the feeling you get when you help somebody, the relief on their face when they know someone’s there who knows what they’re doing in an emergency.”

People who call 911 are not concerned about the gender of the person who responds, said Noreen Jenkins, a member of the South Schodack Fire Department in Rensselaer County.

“At the time, they’re thinking that you’re there to help,” she said, “not whether you’re a man or woman.”

Women still account for less than 5 percent of the 102,000 volunteer firefighters in the state, according to a survey conducted in 2015 by the firemen’s association. But the estimated 5,000 women who are currently volunteers is double the number of a decade ago at a time when departments are having difficultly finding new recruits. The number of volunteers peaked at more than 120,000 in the 1980s.

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Ms. D’Alessandro putting on her firefighting gear.Credit...Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

The biggest challenge is time, particularly in areas still struggling to recover from the recession where people have multiple jobs or both spouses work, officials said. Another obstacle is the increased training required to become a firefighter.

A federal grant financed a four-year recruiting drive that ended last year and helped attract a larger number of volunteer firefighters. But as the population in many communities rises and the types and complexity of fire calls increases, more volunteers are needed, Mr. D’Alessandro said.

Though safer, modern construction techniques and stricter building codes have made building fires less common, firefighters stay busy responding to motor vehicle accidents, calls for medical help, natural disasters and other emergencies, such as pumping out flooded basements. To meet this demand, fire companies would like to exceed the volunteer rates reached in the ’80s.

Carol Trifano, 45, who served in the Navy, said a message posted outside a local firehouse challenged her to join the Clifton Park Fire Department in Saratoga County. The sign said, “If your neighbor’s house was on fire would you know what to do?”

Ms. Trifano knew her answer and it kept nagging at her, so she decided to walk into the firehouse and offer to help. “After the Navy I missed doing something service-oriented, so it was great to give back to my community,” she said. “We are responding to people’s most trying times in their entire lives.”

Ms. Jenkins recalled one emergency when she and her husband, Peter, a fellow volunteer, kept a kitchen fire from consuming an entire house. “When we went into that building, it was good to know she was right there behind me,” Mr. Jenkins said. “She knows how to do everything.’’

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Lt. Carol Trifaro at the West Crescent station.Credit...Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

Despite the serious responsibilities that come with the job, Ms. Jenkins said she had had some lighter encounters. “People just don’t know what to call you,” she said, smiling. “They want to say fireman, but they don’t. The funniest I had, onetime, was somebody called me a fire lady. Call me anything you want, just recognize me for what I am.”

When handling the same difficult and dangerous calls as men, women may sometimes have an advantage, said Chief William Bryans of the West Crescent Fire Department in Saratoga County. “If there’s an accident involving a female, just that comfort level of having another female there makes the situation a little bit easier,” he said. “And most of the women here at this firehouse are moms. So they know how to deal with children. It does help out.”

For some women, the path to becoming volunteer firefighters was created by a four-year old group called the Fire Service Women of New York State, which holds a weeklong camp every summer for women interested in joining a department. The group exposes women to various issues they may encounter, from certain physically demanding firefighting tasks to the resistance they can encounter from men.

“Women have to prove themselves at every turn,” said Megan Collins, the organization’s president. “There’s a lot of the older generation that don’t want women in the fire service.”

But such biases are giving way to a growing recognition and appreciation among many fire chiefs who welcome women at a time when their ranks may be thin.

Mr. Bryans said he had little patience for those who felt otherwise.

“Women go through the same identical training as a male does,’’ he said. “There’s no difference. They do not get special treatment. I have not detected any discrimination in my department, but I tell you I will not tolerate it. It’s not acceptable, especially in a volunteer service. If people are willing to volunteer their time — these days it’s so hard because people are so busy — we owe it to them to give them the respect they deserve.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 20 of the New York edition with the headline: Volunteer Fire Forces Recruit, and Women Answer the Call. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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