Tacoma firefighters (not firemen) answer call for coronavirus crisis and much more
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March is Women’s History Month, a time when half the population is reminded that the other half is not, and never has been, inferior.
Don’t look for any big Women’s History celebrations, at least not until this global pandemic is over. But we can and should mark the progress made by females in all careers, especially those most historically dominated by males— and those who are exemplifying true Tacoma grit during the novel coronavirus emergency.
In her recent 2020 State of the City Address, Mayor Victoria Woodards noted the big strides made by female firefighters in Tacoma. To recognize this accomplishment, she shared her proposal to change the name of Tacoma’s downtown Fireman’s Park to Firefighters Park.
Critics of so-called “politically correct language” may roll their eyes, but as Woodards said in her address: “Language matters.”
The way we see it, changing the name of the park, built over state Interstate 705 adjacent to A Street, has less to do with politics and more to do with accuracy. It recognizes contributions made by everyone in the firefighting profession, not just some. It also represents the city’s future.
Tacoma Fire Department’s Lt. Marja Stowell came up with the idea. “Changing the name fits with the city’s values of equity,” she told a member of our Editorial Board Thursday.
Stowell, of Gig Harbor, says she’s proud of the progress Tacoma has made toward gender equality, citing the struggle of the city’s first female firefighter, Eileen Lewis, who had to knock down a metaphorical wall (i.e., win a discrimination lawsuit) before she could join TFD in 1981.
Lewis later became TFD’s chief and paved the way for other women to follow. In 2000, Tacoma’s Fire Station No. 10 gained national recognition under her watch for having one of the first all-female firefighting crews in the U.S.
Featured as mavericks in People Magazine, Tacoma’s all-female crew showed the world that women can be held to the same physical standards as men.
Thanks to Lewis, our city has fared better than most when it comes to gender balance and fire fighting.
On Sept. 11, 2001, hundreds of women responded to the terror attacks as paramedics, ambulance drivers, nurses, doctors and search-and-rescue workers, but only 25 of the 11,500 firefighters in New York City that day were women. Three died trying to rescue victims in the Twin Towers.
Stowell says most barriers women face today result from public perception. Lifting the shackles of assigned gender roles is a battle women have to keep fighting. Social media, pop culture, religious and cultural institutions have a long list of female do’s and don’ts.
“Little girls need to know this career is possible for them,” says Stowell, who now runs TFD’s public education program. “I go into elementary schools with all my gear and equipment and kids get the message fast – women can do this.”
When she joined TFD 13 years ago, there were only three females in her class. “Out of 410 fire fighters in Tacoma, only 31 of them were women.”
Today, those numbers are much better. There are 50 women in a department with 398 total uniformed personnel. And TFD’s current recruit class of 24 firefighters includes nine women.
City government is taking a more active role in encouraging women to apply to be firefighters. It recently held a women’s firefighter workshop where 40 participants showed up to hear from career female firefighters.
Even if the city weren’t preoccupied by a declared national infectious-disease emergency, the name change at Fireman’s Park would hardly be the stuff of front-page headlines. But maybe because of the upheaval caused by coronavirus, we are reminded how much survival relies on the contributions of everyone, regardless of factors such as age, skin color and X and Y chromosome pairings.
Like all good first responders, Stowell says her focus now is on saving lives. She and her colleagues, male and female alike, will do, “whatever is requested of us” when it comes to assisting folks during the contagion sweeping the nation.
Safe practices like “telework” aren’t available to public safety professionals who run directly into danger and whose definition of a “hot zone” extends beyond burning buildings. Case in point: More than two dozen Washington firefighters who were put into isolation early this month after treating elderly patients at the Life Care Center in Kirkland.
The very least America must do for these pros is ensure they have adequate personal protection equipment now and for the duration of the coronavirus epidemic.
But small gestures, like renaming a small urban park with inclusive language, should not go unnoticed.
The Tacoma Fire Department and all of Washington’s first responders are now proving once again that heroes aren’t defined by gender but by courage.
This story was originally published March 21, 2020 at 8:00 AM.