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Massachusetts female fire crew encourages girls to take up firefighting
Lt. Dina Brunetti, Kiersten Therrien and Valeri Stein recently became the first fire station crew in the city of Chicopee's history to be completely staffed by women.
CHICOPEE, Mass. - A photo of an all-female fire engine crew is makings waves online after a Massachusetts fire department posted the image on social media.
On Jan. 17, Lt. Dina Brunetti, Kiersten Therrien and Valeri Stein became the first fire station crew in the city of Chicopee's history to be completely staffed by women, according to a Facebook post from Chicopee Fire Department.
“Firefighter Kirsten Therrien took an overtime today and joined Lieutenant Dina Brunetti at station 7 where she is regularly assigned to Engine 7, and where Firefighter Valeri Stein was assigned for the day,” the post reads.
The crew reportedly hopes their story will help encourage young girls to consider taking up firefighting as a profession.
“No matter the profession, anyone can do any job as long as you put your mind to it, so having a team of women makes us all stronger,” Stein told WBZ.
As of 2017, there were over 1.1 million firefighters in the U.S. Women accounted for only 7 percent of that number, according to the National Fire Protection Association.