Fighting Fires and Stereotypes
Emma Pribnow
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Year: Junior
Major: Pre-med/bio chem
Minor: Spanish
Activities: Relay for Life chair, Wildland firefighter, and Registrar employee
I caught up with Eliza in the Marketplace on a rare break from her hectic schedule of MCAT-studying and community service. She described her summer experiences with a smile, excitedly offering a glimpse into the life of a firefighter.
Emma Pribnow: How did you get involved in in Wildland fire fighting?
Eliza Schillhammer: I grew up in a small rural town in the national forest,
around all of the recreational and fire fighting activities. It's a different environment in the summer. I was that local who wanted to help protect the community.
EP: What was the process of entering the program? Was it difficult?
ES: It's pretty competitive to get on a crew. They are usually 20 man crews. I had to be in interviews and go through an application process with the government. They conduct an overall analysis of your being, mentally and physically. It really has to be a person that can watch out for themselves, and be responsible for the lives of others. You have to build deep trust because your life is in the hands of your co-workers, you're really vulnerable.
EP: Do you get similar support from your family and friends that you get from your co-workers?
ES: There is always a difficult element with my mom. It's never easy to call her up and tell her I'm on dispatch, all I really hear is this white-noise. You have to be very self-assured all of the time and it's hard to see why others don't feel assured. The Forest Service makes sure you are very well-trained and qualified.
EP: It seems like you really enjoy your job. Is there anything about it that you don't like?
ES: It's fun because you get to incorporate a lot of elements. But it's also very hard emotionally. After going out on dispatch there is this intense let-down, you're running on adrenaline and you don't realize how stressful the situation is until it is over. Sometimes it's laid back, but then all of the sudden you realize how much responsibility you have and it gets overwhelming. I've learned a lot, and it's nice to know that I am capable physically.
EP: As a woman in a male-dominated field, have you ever encountered discrimination?
ES: Elements having to do with the human physique can sometimes be difficult. The first day this
year I was too little to get the door of our truck open, but I have never [personally] experienced discrimination. The Forest Service tries to make sure that doesn't happen. But sometimes, with inter-agency activities, there's a little bit of sex discrimination. It can be tough because it's only about 10% women, and a lot is not accommodated for women. On the other hand, it's a good way for people to realize that maybe men and women aren't so different because us women do okay without things having been accommodated. I work on a 21 man crew and there are only three women, but most of the head-honchos are actually women.
EP: Have you had any negative reactions from the work you do?
ES: (laughs and nods) Yeah. Most of the time people feel that it wouldn't be something I would be capable of. The thing is it is so much more mental than anything else. To be capable physically is a matter of training, which is really challenging your mental and emotional capabilities. When we were supposed to do 15 pull-ups at first I could only do one, the other crew members held my feet and kept me going. Straight out of finals, drinking coffee and eating chocolate all of the time, I couldn't run a mile but everyone was encouraging…I really miss them. It's really not very easy, sometimes you find yourself thinking I don't think my body can live through this. I am still trying to heal blisters from two and a half months ago, but at the time you are really in the moment. Now I'll burn myself on a bunsen burner or something and think it hurts so badly, and then I realize that I endured so much more when I was fighting fires.
EP: Do you think you will go back to fire fighting?
ES: Right now I'm going to focus on studying for the MCATs, but if I ever have a few spare months I would. Manual labor isn't necessarily a field I was intending to pursue.
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