Josephine Reynolds
  • home
    • woman to watch
    • GIRLS CAN DO ANYTHING
    • Song by David Segall
  • FIRE WOMAN MEMOIR
    • Firefighter
    • Cuttings
  • Speaker
    • Corporate
    • Fire & Rescue
    • Academies & Schools
    • Speaker at gordon poole
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
Picture

Make Lasses 5

2/27/2022

0 Comments

 
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service 
0 Comments

NFCC Lunch and Learn to mark the International Women’s Day

2/22/2022

0 Comments

 
"I’m very pleased to announce the NFCC Lunch and Learn on 3 March at 13:00-14:00 to mark the international Women’s Day."
"We have invited Jo Reynolds who was the first wholetime female Firefighter in the UK and we have a new firefighter from Norfolk who will be joining Jo Reynolds for the lunch and learn. we thought it would be nice as this is where Jo started her journey"
 


Please use this form to book your place.  Hope to see many of you there!
Picture

​Please use this form to book your place.

#FIREWOMAN #InternationalWomen’sDay #BreaktheBias #lunchandlearn #NFRS #firefighting #employment #youngpeople #womenfirefighters #femalefirefighters  #firsts #trailblazers #careerchoice #youcanbewhatyoucansee  #HistoryMakers 

 
0 Comments

Media interest, can a women be a firefighter?

2/17/2022

0 Comments

 
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 made it unlawful for an individual to be discriminated against in the workplace in relation to selection for a job, training, promotion, work practices, dismissal or any other disadvantage such as sexual harassment because of their sex or marital status.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 
prohibited sex discrimination in the workplace. Since October 2010 this has been regulated by the Equality Act. This legislation protects employees and workers (and anyone under a contract to personally carry out work) from less favourable treatment as a result of their sex.
0 Comments

Where did the fire pole come from?

2/15/2022

0 Comments

 
"Laughlin Fire Emergency Services, Texas
In recognition of Black History Month:
Where did the fire pole come from?
Once a common accessory found in nearly every two, and three-story fire station built around the turn of the century, the fire pole has been gradually disappearing from many of America’s fire stations today. Since the late 1960’s to current day, modern fire stations are frequently built with everything on the ground floor, eliminating the need for a fire pole. But to this day, hundreds of existing multistory fire stations still have and use them, mostly in older cities. But where did the fire pole originate?
Until 1878, spiral staircases or sliding chutes were common, but not particularly fast. Fire houses were also equipped with spiral staircases so horses would not try to climb the stairs into the living quarters.
Captain David B. Kenyon of Chicago's all-black Engine Company No. 21 worked in a three-story fire station. The ground floor contained the firefighting equipment, the floor above was for recreation and sleeping, and the top floor was the hayloft to store the winter supply of hay for the fire engines' horses. During transport, the hay was secured to a wagon using a wooden binding pole, which was stored in the hayloft when not in use. Firefighter George Reid slid down the pole to respond to a call for help once, which inspired Kenyon to create a permanent pole.
In 1878, Captain Kenyon convinced his Chief to make the necessary hole in the building and install the pole, after agreeing to pay for any necessary maintenance.
The company crafted a pole out of a Georgia pine beam by shaving and sanding it into a 3-inch diameter pole which they gave several coats of varnish and a coat of paraffin.
Despite being the butt of many jokes, others soon realized Engine Company 21 was usually the first Engine Company to arrive when called, especially at night, and the chief of the department ordered the poles to be installed in all Chicago fire stations. In 1880 the first brass pole was installed in the Worcester, Massachusetts Fire Department.
0 Comments

23 Stunning Vintage Photos of Female Firefighters From Between the 1920s and 1940s, 2015, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s,

2/12/2022

0 Comments

 
​ Event & history, female, life & culture   Some consider fighting fires to be a man’s job, but as long ago as the bucket brigades of the 19th century, women have bravely played an important—if sometimes invisible—role in firefighting. A collection below features 23 stunning black and white photographs of female firefighters from between the 1920s and 1940s, via BuzzFeed.
0 Comments

LAFD's first Black female battalion chief receives MLK Legacy Week award

1/18/2022

0 Comments

 
 "Larson was the first Black woman to become a captain 1, captain 2 and then promoted further to the first Black female battalion chief in LAFD history.
"If you can’t see it, you can’t be it," she said. "Having that representation out there for people is important. It wasn’t something I set out to do like, 'Oh, I’m going to be the first to do this.' I honestly didn’t know."

"I don’t think you get that many opportunities in life to make an impact that is going to be positive, not just for you, but possibly generations to come," she said. "Knowing that this is a legacy award named after Rosa Parks is huge. I mean, I don’t know how to step into those shoes and not be truly humbled."
From emulating the qualities of Rosa Parks and Dr. King, Larson hopes to carry on their legacies by following in their footsteps"

#FIREWOMAN #KrisLarson #LegacyAward #firefighting #employment #youngpeople #LAFD #RosaParks #womenfirefighters #femalefirefighters #allwomencrew #firsts #trailblazers #careerchoice #youcanbewhatyoucansee #FirstBlackFemaleChief


0 Comments

Firefighter Elsie Emery

1/17/2022

0 Comments

 
#FIREWOMAN #ElsieEmery #firefighting #employment #youngpeople #BBC #womenfirefighters #femalefirefighters #allwomencrew #firsts #trailblazers #careerchoice #youcanbewhatyoucansee .
0 Comments

Trailblazers 1916

1/17/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Members of the Womens Fire Brigade in March 1916 with their Chief Officer photographed in their uniforms after extinguishing a fire.

#FIREWOMAN #womenfirefighters #femalefirefighters #allwomencrew #firsts #trailblazers #careerchoice #youcanbewhatyoucansee #IfYOUcanSEEITYOUcanBEIT #HistoryMakers 
0 Comments

BRENDA BERKMAN — A TRAILBLAZER STARTS A NEW PATH

1/5/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture







​



























"In 
1977, when the New York Fire Department finally opened up applications for women, Berkman was among the first group to apply. She was in her third year of law school at the time. one of several women to become the first female firefighters in New York City.

On the easternmost corner of ground zero on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, Brenda Berkman and a small group of her fellow firefighters stood before a wall of flames and dust. Both towers had already collapsed, but every other building on the street was ablaze, including the 47-story 7 World Trade Center. 
Berkman, then a lieutenant with 20 years of experience, was off duty that morning when she got a call to turn on her television. As the image of the first tower collapsing replayed on the screen, she grabbed whatever gear she could find and rushed to her former Brooklyn firehouse, where she put on another firefighter’s uniform, boarded a police van and headed across the bridge toward the smoke."


Fast forward to 2022 and "Brenda would use the skills and techniques she learned and developed at The League to create pieces that reflected on her experience on September 11th. Her views of the World Trade Center, and her reflections on the events of that day, have led to multiple exhibitions. Brenda, who has always been a champion for women’s equality, now uses art to ensure that women are fairly represented. Her recent prints focus on the experience of women at Ground Zero, and the unsung heroines of New York’s response and recovery."

Find the full article here 
https://artmakers.nyc/brenda-berkman/
Some text also taken from https://msmagazine.com/2021/09/10/women-ground-zero-9-11-firefighters-brenda-berkman/
​
#Brendaberkman #womeninfire #PioneeringWomen #Monumental Women #trailblazer #NYFD #911
#womenatgroundzero #artist #worldtradecenter #womensequality #heroinesofnewyork 




0 Comments

'You can still fight fires with pink hair': Tyne & Wear's top female officer on battling blazes and stereotypes

12/20/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
She's a trailblazing woman whose work proves that firefighting definitely is for girls.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) Lynsey McVay is the first woman in Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) to do the job, and the first operational principal officer in the service - that is to say, the first to make to her level after starting out as a firefighter.

There's still a lot more change that's needed: in 2020, just 7% of UK firefighters were female, while 96% of all firefighters were white.
That's something Lynsey hopes to help tackle, by encouraging people who might not see themselves as potential firefighters to consider applying.
"I think there still is this real perception that firefighters are big, strong, white, males, essentially, and that's all - it is a societal thing, it's a generational thing," she said.


#FIREWOMAN #LynseyMcVay #womenfirefighters #femalefirefighters #allwomencrew #firsts #trailblazers #careerchoice #youcanbewhatyoucansee 
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Author

    Gutsy Girls, may we see them, may we be them!

    Jo

    Archives

    November 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
Click on cover to buy
 ​"Diving head first into a career in the last bastion of masculinity, firefighting. The world back in a Thatcher led England in 1983 was much smaller and for a woman entering the fire service much tougher."

FIREWOMAN 
Paperback, Audio-book or Kindle Edition, find on Amazon world-wide.



""Hi Josephine. We sell your wonderful book in our little shop @BrigadeMuseum
. Your story is a great way to educate young people on the difficulties endured by trailblazers such as yourself. It’s also a great way to show aspiring firefighters that it’s a career for everyone !"
Picture
Ian Warne    @ianwarne71
"I have a first edition of Red Watch. Great read.I think I've read most on your list, but two I would recommend are, Lifting the Kid @Kfullen76
& Fire Woman @FireWomanJo1
Two excellent reads and books the majority of the FRS can learn from."


​".. One of the best biography I have ever read"

​"Josephine paved the way for females in the fire service and should be justly proud of her achievements. This book is an excellent record of her fire service adventure and is a first-class read.”

​"This book is an excellent read! This one had me enthralled and I read it in just a few hours ! Brilliant insight into the world of firefighting and Jo's private life too .. had me laughing in places, crying in others ... fabulous"​



Contact Us

Submit
  • home
    • woman to watch
    • GIRLS CAN DO ANYTHING
    • Song by David Segall
  • FIRE WOMAN MEMOIR
    • Firefighter
    • Cuttings
  • Speaker
    • Corporate
    • Fire & Rescue
    • Academies & Schools
    • Speaker at gordon poole
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact