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NAME: Robin Straw EMAIL: Robin35@rocketmail.com OCCUPATION: Volunteer fire fighter and EMT BIO: I'm am a 35 year old mother of 3. A wife of 16 years, and I live in a small town in central Alaska. These are the things I would like to address here, 1) Mother 2) Wife 3) Fire Fighter. MOM: As I have already told you I have 3 children, all girls. My kids have many times throughout the years given me many reason to be full of pride and on occasion reduced me to tears. I like you (if you have kids) could rattle on for hours about their accomplishments or complain for hours about the state of their rooms. However I will try to restrict my comments to how this has affected my choices concerning fire fighting. I suppose the hardest was the waiting. Waiting? I'll explain. I have wanted to be a fire fighter since the first grade. From the very moment my teacher asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" When little Billy, Johnny, and Joe, said ‘ a fireman’ I thought -I don't know what I want to be so I'll say fireman too!!- What a devastation blow to be informed by the all knowing teacher that I had 3 choices. A) housewife ... marry a house? B) nurse ..give shot and get puked on? C) teacher .. go to school everyday?! on purpose!? Oh YUCK!! All of this because I am a girl. So, the waiting began. I'll show her!! At 33 I took my EMT course and started volunteering at the fire department at the same time. 33!! Good God girl!! What took so long!!? The answer is simple. I became a Mom. You see, the all knowing teacher was right!! I was now a housewife, a nurse, a teacher, an accountant, and so much more. I waited I waited because I wanted my kids to have a solid base to grow on. I wanted them to be strong, confident, women. I wanted them to know beyond any doubt that when someone told them the couldn't do something because of gender, to take it in stride, bone up, and don't talk a big game. Instead, get in there and show ‘em there's nothing you can't do. Finally the time came. The girls were old enough to take care of themselves. They didn't need me hovering over them all the time. Now, I would be a firefighter. At this point I will tell you a bit about my girls and the roles they have taken at the station. I took my girls to training with me whenever they wanted to go along. I wanted them to feel that they were a part of every aspect of my life. Also I never wanted them to fear when I was on a run. they needed to know that I knew what I was doing and that I and my fellow fire fighters were watching over one another always. Perhaps it would be easier to just tell you about a training burn we had. My oldest daughter, Randi, joined the department by the time of the burn. We are the only mother daughter team that the department has ever had. (threw that in cuz it's one of those bragging rights things) We were asked to burn an abandoned building by the owner. We don't have a training facility here so when we get a structurally sound building to train in, we rejoice, and gladly accept. Prior to the burn there was a lot of work to be done. The building and the grounds were a mess inside and out. Anyway, we got it ready. Part of the training was to take the cadets in a few days ahead of time and do some training. Wall breaching, arson investigation etc... Imagine my surprise when my 12 year old picked up a fire axe and went through a wall with the rest of the cadets. Then proceeded to show me she could take down a solid wood door. Best of all, I decided to give her a scenario. She was trapped inside a windowless room and couldn't get back out the door. Now what? Piece of cake. She took a haligan and breached the exterior wall. PRESTO! She and her team were safe. Although my middle daughter doesn't seem as interested in the fire fighting side of things. She has been and still is a valuable asset to the department. Then night before the burn she was there with us making sandwiches, running errands, being the best gofer we could ask for. Thank you Marrie. Your help was and is greatly appreciated by all of us. NOTE: Marrie is now 16 and would like to pursue a career in pediatric oncology. The Training Burn: "How Dare They!!!" How dare they let my 6 lb. 6 oz 19 inch long baby girl up on that roof!! Don't they know buildings can collapse? What are they thinking!? They know the fire is right under her! I should be on the R.I.T. team! No one will fight harder then me to get her out if it goes bad! One false move, one wrong step, one mistake.... These are the most terrifying minutes of my life. And then... and then it was suddenly ok. The tears welled up in my eyes, my chest puffed with pride, and my heart was full. You see. Up there. Look. That's my little girl. All 5 ft 98 lbs of her. That's her up there in full turn outs and SCOTT pack, up there on that roof, and, she's doing it. She's doing it right, she's doing it with confidence, and self-assurance. That's her up there. She's is no longer just my daughter, She is now a Fire Fighter. What peace came over me in those minutes. Right then I knew that when she left for school in Ohio the following week that she would be ok. That although she would find some hard times ahead she was capable and strong, and would be able to make her way in the world. That she can face and trial, or jump and hurdle life throws in her path. You see, I know these things because I taught her she could. WIFE: How do I express the importance of the support my husband has given me? I cant. Bob is of the ‘old school’. HE will provide and take care of us in all things. HE will keep us from harms way and safe. HE will tend to our every need. Knowing these things about him it amazes me that I never hear anything from him but support. When I go on a run he always says "Have fun and be careful." He refers to what I do as my ‘hobby’. I suppose He's right. I never hear from him statements like "The dishes aren't done, the laundry is piling up, dinner is burning, Tones again?, You have training again?" None of these things. How, I wonder, does he deal with it when I'm out there on a scene, knowing the dangers involved. I don't know the answer to that. I do know however, that when I walk in the door, he can tell me everything that happened. He listens closely to the scanner to everything He knows what time I left. how long I was there, when I returned to the station, everything. Sometimes it seems he knows more about what happened then I do. I believe, in his mind, tracking my every step on a run, in some way allows him to still watch over me. Thank you Bob for making my ‘hobby’ something I can enjoy, knowing that your picking up the slack at home when I can't be there is the thing that makes fire fighting possible for me. FIRE FIGHTER: Fighting fire in Alaska can be at the very least challenging. Hauling 3200 gallons of water on icy roads, then fighting a fire in stiff, frozen solid turn outs is at best difficult. It is at those times when I look around the fire ground and feel the most pride to be a fire fighter. Even though I stand there thinking, "Robin, you have got to be nuts! What ever possessed you to be out here in the bitter , cold, biting, weather? You could be home warm and toasty playing with your birds. But, NOOOOOOOOO your out here volunteering for this!" Then it dawns on me, I'm here because I couldn't be anywhere else. This is what I love, the service. Once again I survey the ground. Everyone is on the move doing what they need to help a neighbor, a friend, a member of our community, and here I am, working with them. How grateful I am to my Chief, and my Asst. Chief for the training that allows me to help these brave men out here. "Someone charge a line! We're going in!" (I'm no dummy, it's warm in there!) I would like to end with a stand on a soap box. This will be mainly for those of you who live in a small community volunteered department, but, I hope it's food for thought for everyone. Admittedly the fire service is something you feel deep in you soul, and not everyone feels the pull. Not everyone can be nor should they be a fire fighter. However, ( I need a bigger box at this point) YOU can help your local department. What can you do? The list is long. Try picking up the phone and giving them a call. Could they use a can of coffee, a ream of paper, a case of oil, paper towels, that old easy chair in your basement, office supplies, dish soap, window cleaner, tools, non perishables, a vacuum cleaner, a fund raising idea, etc..etc..etc.. The point is, YOU probably have something your not using that your fire fighters would be grateful to have. Here is something each and everyone of you can do. The next time you run across a fire fighter in your community, reach out, extend your hand, and simply give him or her a Thank You.