With four women recently joining its ranks, the Woolwine Volunteer Fire Department now has six female firefighters — the most of any department in the area.
Department member Connie Goode said all six women are certified at Firefighter I level, and two also hold Firefighter II. Four are certified through the Emergency Vehicle Operator Course (EVOC), one is a certified EMT-paramedic, and one is an EMT.
Despite the record number, Goode said the department remains predominantly male.
“I mean, having six in a department — that’s unheard of, at least in this area,” she said.
Goode said the women train and work well together.
“All the women are wanting to train, wanting to learn, wanting to step up to the plate, and we’re just one big happy family there,” she said.
The women have not faced issues fitting in with their male counterparts.
“Sometimes the guys are like, ‘Well, let me do that.’ But they’ve learned that we can carry our own weight at times. And we’re not ashamed to go, ‘Hey, you want to pick this up for us?’ We know our limits. The guys are really good about being there if we need help, letting us step forward and do what we can. They’re not like, ‘You’re a girl, you can’t do this.’ They’re encouraging us,” she said.
Goode became certified six years ago after starting in rescue work.
“My husband was” a firefighter, “and we’ve always volunteered with the fire department anyway — helping out with the October Festival and stuff like that,” she said.
After her husband finished Firefighter I training, he encouraged her to do the same.
“I was like, ‘No,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, you could really do this.’ So a couple of years later when my kids got a little bit older and I got through with the EMT class, then I took Firefighter I,” she said.
Their daughters, Anna Wray and Bethany Goode, also grew up in the department.
“They just stepped right on up and joined the ranks,” Connie Goode said. “They’ve just been raised into the fire department scene.”
Wray’s husband, Timothy, is also a member.
Goode said Jessica Belcher had long wanted to join.
“After her stroke, the fire department had done the landing zone, and she’s like, ‘This is what I want to do.’ So, Jessica stepped up and started becoming a member,” Goode said.
Lauren Belcher, Goode’s cousin and Bethany’s best friend, joined as well.
“When Bethany took Firefighter I, she was like, ‘Hey, you need to do this too.’ Lauren had talked before about becoming a firefighter and doing her EMT class,” Goode said.
Out of the six women, Diana Foley has served the longest. Foley, an assistant chief with Martinsville Fire & EMS, has been certified for 13 years.
“Actually, every one of the females in the department I am kin to, except for Diana — and I’m probably kin to her some way down the line,” Goode said with a laugh.
While she knows the risks, Goode said she is proud to serve alongside her family.
“It can be dangerous, but I know that they’re being trained, and I know they’ve got good role models to look up to,” she said.
Goode recalled one brush fire in Floyd County that both her daughters responded to before she and her husband arrived.
“When we got there, our two daughters were already there. He went with one daughter, and I went with the other. That way it made me feel a little bit better because we had eyes on them,” she said.
Goode said Foley has been invaluable to the group because of her higher certifications, paramedic training, and instructor experience.
“She’s on up in the ranks and she’s an instructor, so she’s really good about guiding us,” Goode said.
For example, she said Foley helped one firefighter overcome difficulties handling heavy hoses.
“Because girls are built differently, we don’t have as much upper strength. She was able to help her learn how to lift, how to pull the hose, you know, overcome some of the physical things. She does the training all the time. She’s been a great help, and she has the contacts, and she does this 24/7,” Goode said.
She added Foley “definitely has the most training and knowledge” out of the group and is always willing to share tips.
The four women who recently completed Firefighter I training also plan to pursue Firefighter II certification this fall.
“That will be another 57 hours of training. Firefighter I is 160 hours plus 32 hours of hazmat. This is not just a quick little class to go through,” Goode said. “I think a couple of them are thinking about going through the EMT class that’s being offered this fall.”
