El Paso Fire Department sees largest number of female recruits

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- According to El Paso Fire Chief, Jonathan Killings, the fire service across the nation has always struggled to get women in the fire service, El Paso being no exception. But things may be turning around.

“So now the push, and really the focus, is on what we can do as a fire service to show that our profession is more welcoming and more attractive to females and to show the value that females bring to the fire service," he said.

Killings tells ABC-7 the recent number of female recruits shows an increase in interest in the field. He said out of the 627 applicants that applied, 60 of them were female. That's up from 17 in the last recruitment.

“Typically, we would go long periods with no females in the class, and then there would be one that would come along. But having multiple is really awesome, and it's really a testament to some of the things that we're doing now to try to appeal to that demographic,” he said.

He said encouragement starts at a very young age.

"You know, it's about getting our female firefighters out there in the public and showing that, yes, women can be successful in our organization as well,” he said.