First Female Firefighters in the United States

Molly Williams was a slave owned by a merchant who served with the Oceanus Engine Company #11 in New York City. Molly, called Volunteer 11, was said to be “as good a fire laddie as many of the boys.” She is especially remembered for her work during a blizzard in 1818, when many of the men were ill from an influenza outbreak and unable to help.

Lillie Hitchcock was another well-known firefighter of the 19th century. A San Francisco heiress, ‘Firebelle Lil’ was fascinated by firefighters her whole life, and would often chase them to the scene of a fire. She was named an honorary member of the Knickerbocker Engine Company #5 in 1859 after helping the company drag their engine to a fire.

In the late 1920’s, Emma Vernell became a member of Westside Hose Company #1 at the age of 50, after her firefighter husband died in the line of duty. She was the first woman officially recognized as a firefighter by the State of New Jersey. A decade later, also in New Jersey, a woman named Augusta Chasans became a volunteer firefighter.

Sandra Forcier was hired in 1973 as a Public Safety Officer, a combination police officer and firefighter, in North Carolina.

In 1974, Judith Livers became the first known woman to become a career firefighter when she was hired by the Arlington County, Virginia, fire department. Brewer retired in 1999 at which time she was serving at the nation's first woman battalion chief, a rank she earned after 17 years of service.

History of Women in the Fire Department

Beginning in the early 20th century, women who wanted to volunteer as firefighters were sometimes organized into separate women’s brigades. Silver Spring, Maryland, and Los Angeles, California, each had their own women’s volunteer fire companies in the 1910s, and King County in California and Woodbine in Texas developed their own all-women fire companies in the 1960s.

Many women entered the workforce while men were fought during World War II, and women also joined volunteer fire service to replace the missing men. In Illinois, there were two all-women military fire departments during the war.

With the advent of the women’s liberation movement in the 1960s and 70s, it became more common for women to join the regular volunteer fire departments and work together with male firefighters. By the end of the 1970s, all-women brigades were no longer used.