"Blazing Trails and Breaking Norms: African American Women's Legacy in the Fire Service.

​[00:00:00]
Welcome to the podcast, Blazing Trails and Breaking Norms, African American Women's Legacy in the Fire Service, presented by the African American Firefighters Museum In Los Angeles California I'm your host Karen Slider a retired Los Angeles City Fire Department firefighter paramedic. Join us for candid interviews with outstanding black women shaping the fire service legacy. Please note that the opinions of our guests are their own and do not reflect those of the African American Firefighting Museum. Listener discretion is advised as explicit language may be used.
Hello, everyone. Welcome
to the African American Firefighter Museums
podcast.[00:01:00]
We are Blazing Trails and Breaking Norms, and today we have the pleasure of
interviewing the first black
female
captain St. Paul, Minnesota. Her name is Brittney Baker. Hello, Miss Brittney Baker. May I call you Miss or Mrs.
Baker?
Mrs. Baker.
Thank you for joining our podcast. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey and becoming
A
captain, the first female black captain from Minnesota?
Yeah, so I,
I started my journey in the fire
service 12 years ago. I did
The
EMT class,
the EMS
Academy, what we call it, our station 51 through St. Paul, it's where underprivileged minorities and youth in the city of St. Paul have an opportunity to take
their EMT for free. We do pay
people
to take the class. and so I started
with that [00:02:00] finished and that became my first job on the ambulance service. I worked for our trauma center doing event staff on the side from that, which I'm still currently doing that as well. And then I got hired at an emergency department at a suburban ER just to get some experience.
fire was never really my goal. To be honest, I was going to do nursing, pediatric oncology to take care of some children like similar to my sister. My sister died from acute lymphoblastic leukemia. in 1997. And so that was my goal was to work with kids like her. But about three weeks into my EMT class, my dad got shot.
And so I looked at that as a sign, especially because the reason I ended
up applying for the eMT class was My husband was shot for September before I signed up for it in 2011. And it felt natural to me. felt like everything a
part of [00:03:00] EMS was what I had been experiencing my entire life.
Taking care of people, being around friends and family that needed to call 911. And just really not knowing what to do. And so I wanted to be able to help and take care of people like them, but also me and my community. And so I continued working for the BLS unit, went to paramedic school and graduated
from there in 2015 continued on and got my two year degree in EMS.
At the end of 2015, Kept working for the BLS unit kept working
for that emergency department. ended up while still doing event staff, also doing
hyperbarics at a local hospital as on a casual basis, as well as I started teaching in 2013, immediately with the EMT class. And so I currently help run that along with another lead instructor and I coordinate all of the back end stuff, And right now this year, we just had our, it's our fifth, celebrated our 15th year and our 24th class. And so I'm [00:04:00] really very proud of that. And so I've continued on there. I got hired
to go to the fire academy, the first one in 2016, but had some family stuff
that happened I had to drop the academy. And
that was really hard for me because I'm not used to giving up on
things. I'm used to just allowing life to happen and then still battling through stuff.
But I had to really make a choice and sacrifice between my family career that I started to feel was my purpose to walk in. And so I took a step back, had my son in 2017. And then after having my son and getting married, I was like, you know what? I'm going to do it. And so about seven months after I had my son, I went to the fire academy again, 2018, January finished that. And now I'm almost seven years on the fire side. And it's been a ride. It is, it's [00:05:00] been a ride, from going and being coming the second
black female to ever be hired on a department's history, promoting to driver in December of 2023 and then to captain in February of 2024
has been a lot. I'm also president of our Black Fire Association
for St. Paul.
Wow. You
wear a lot of hats.
yes,
I'm
listening.
mother. I'm a wife. I still teach like I said, our EMT class, but I also teach at a local
college. I have a couple other side jobs. I mentor at one of the local high schools, and I just recently had to take a step back from being a Girl scout troop leader, which I was for for almost five years. so now I'm at a point where I'm like,
I'm really going to focus on me and my family. And a lot of that came after all of the recognition getting promoted to captain, but [00:06:00] a lot of people don't see everything that went into me being promoted to captain. They see it. And of course there's always the DEI hires she got
What's a DEI hire?
Diversity, equity, and inclusion hire.
then there's
the she got it
because, she's a female and because she's a black female, people miss the fact that I am a paramedic and have been for almost 10 years, that I have extensive years of
experience. I am certified as a DLT instructor.
I also am certified to teach fire one, fire two, and live burns.
I teach PALS, ACLS, and bLS CPR. Also, obviously officer one, because that
is a certification that you have to have for our department to become a captain. You have to be officer one certified. I'm a certified arson [00:07:00] investigator.
And so you add in all these different pieces on
top of all the awards I've gotten for community service. I'm the 2022 Minnesota firefighter of the year. And So all of these little things,
and they're all things that I don't like because they're all recognition. The education I love though, but all of the awards for me are just like, it's recognition, which I don't necessarily care for. but it's a double edged sword because.
Kids do need to see people that look like And whether that be me being a female or me
being a woman of color, being a black woman kids do need to see that. and so
the things that I'm uncomfortable with things that other children and sometimes adults need to see to feel inspired so that's been my journey.
And right now I'm able to work with one of my closest friends. on my brother's he's my driver at my station. And so I've been blessed. It's been a bumpy road, but I've been blessed
does [00:08:00] your husband
feel about you being in this position that you're in? And what's your work schedule like?
so He a lot. He wants me to be home sometimes, but he is my biggest supporter. He actually bought a shirt that said to the world. My wife is a firefighter, to me, my wife is my world. And he's actually said that to me
that shirt That's
Yeah. But he's actually said He understands that he has, he says I understand I have to share You with the you have so much to offer, you have so much to bring to the table and people need that and so he's very supportive. And I'm like, Hey, I need to go do this volunteering. I need to go and do this. There's this training. I want to go to out of state. I have to go and teach. I just had the opportunity to speak in Pittsburgh in May on our program, because we are mirrored after the Freedom house station 51 out of Pittsburgh. That's Cherry Hill [00:09:00] District. Thank you to those men and women who who troubled laced for us along with, Dr. Peter Saffer and Dr. Nancy caroline, who are considered the father of CPR and the mother of EMS. And. They are how
we got our start, where our program came from to mirror after that, so that the departments can represent the city. And so he came out there with me has continuously supported everything that I do. And so I've been very lucky that manner. don't have a husband that, that hinders but definitely encourages the growth and my purpose that I'm
So Whats your schedule like
our schedule is
we are on a modified
Kelly.
So we basically work
every other day for seven days and then we're off for Then we work every other day for seven days and
we're off for six.
So
this week, yeah,
love it. Sometimes it's [00:10:00] tiring. If you don't get to sleep the day before,
Like at,
if you don't get any sleep on calls
the next day, if you have anything to do, you're just going to be tired
and you have to go back to work.
So we
work this week or segment, we call it Friday,
Sunday, Tuesday.
and then I work tomorrow and then I'll be off
until next Tuesday. So off for four
yes,
I love you. Midweek vacations.
honestly, I would have to say myself. I am really hard on myself.[00:11:00]
and I say that because there, there are external challenges, but at the end of the day I'm only in competition with me and I'm really the only thing that stands in my way. And obviously, sometimes progress can be impeded by again, external.
And I did have some challenges in the academy with some of the training staff,
but I needed to know, and I'm one of those people that has to prove to myself that I can do something. I don't worry about if anybody else thinks that I can do it. I need to know I can do it. And so it was, that was really hard.
And then knowing the weight on my shoulders don't get to, if I don't make it, I don't get to just fail for, I don't fail just for me. I fail for any of the women or men or kids that are trying to come after me. And so that was a little bit for [00:12:00] a little bit hard for me to deal with and grasp Initially was that weight of feeling like needed to be perfect, definitely battling imposter syndrome of not feeling good enough. even though
I had more than enough, still not feeling good enough. And so that's why I said Me, I'm my biggest hurdle because I'm the thing that stands him [00:13:00] no, absolutely not. And then to like showing my kids that it is okay to mess
up. It
is okay to fail. This fail is just the first attempt in learning.
But then
also What do you do after
that? What perseverance that you have? Do you
know how to overcome adversity? Because life's not, life is going to
life, whether
you want it to or not.
Do you know how to handle that? Are you emotionally,
intelligent enough to deal
with things that
you're going to have to deal with? that
you're going to have,
To deal with. Not saying
that you're not human, and
you don't have emotional days,
but do you know
how to
cry your tears? Suck it up and keep going.
And my husband always tells my kids
and it's okay to
have those feelings,
you just can't stay there. And so, [00:14:00] do you have
that? And that's a lot of what I had to
do with
myself. But I also
had that support. So again, because I didn't make it through that first one, cause I had to drop and deal with some things.
every
day after that first week of my fire
Academy, he sent me quotes every morning to inspire me up until the day that graduated.
that was huge for
me. every day like clockwork.
Oh, all the time. That's my safe space. Yep.
it,
no, and it definitely, I will say probably
depends on where you work. I would definitely say that
because I've had
people make comments and I've addressed some
of them online,
Where people say she got this because of this.
And I'm like,
no, like in St. Paul, [00:15:00] we have processes, and so you have to take. You have to apply first
and meet criteria. And our department's a little bit different. We have our 16 week Academy or 14 week,
depending on which one you
do.
then you have to do a JATP apprenticeship. And once you
do your
apprenticeship training, which consists of eight classes.
So you have like ladder skills, squad skills, hazmat tech,
and a few other classes you have to take.
Then you
still have to
do a one year, a two year and a three year written plus physical.
And once you're done with that, then you
can be checked off from your apprenticeship, which makes you eligible
to take promotional exams.
And
in our
no, your apprenticeships
at our department, they're not paid.
There are trainings that you have to do We don't we do, Nope. We get uniform allowance.
We get a uniform allowance. We have a really good union part of IFF local [00:16:00] 21. And so we definitely, we get uniform allowance from the city,
but our apprenticeship is not paid and it is tied to your promotion. And so you have to take those classes. In addition to finishing all of your apprenticeship, you still have to take.
Officer one,
but a prerequisite for officer one is fire instructor one.
And
our department,
no,
those classes, no, none of our
classes do you have to pay for
on your own? The department
does people the arson class was
not required, but I took it anyway and it was free.
They offered fire
instructor two
They offered live burn instructor, free.
And so there's a lot of things that, do different ropes classes, ATR, all of that. And that's all
paid for.
No,
that I paid for on my own. So I was still
working on the BLS unit on the basic life support
unit when I went through
paramedic school
and myself plus 11 other
people on the basic life support unit
[00:17:00] went to paramedic school with 12 firefighters. And
the 12 firefighters, their, paramedic school was paid for, but we had to pay on our own,
But now our department does pay for people to go.
So we just graduated 10 paramedic students
two weeks ago, and there are currently 15 that just started and that is paid for by the department.
of
the 10 from the last class,
three of them were basic life support employees. So
they, we have definitely
graduated to all members
of the department as we call fire personnel
for fire fighters or for,
Like 21 to 22 an hour,
but we also have
premiums. Our department is very unique in that we have premiums for everything.
And so if you are the bare minimum to get hired as
a firefighter for our department is to have
your [00:18:00] EMT.
Certification and then have your,
CPR certification.
Obviously you do not have to be a paramedic. However, that's preferred. You don't have to have fire experience, but it is preferred,
but that's the bare minimum being EMT and our EMTs get paid a premium as well. And then paramedics
know this is to get accepted into the fire academy. The apprenticeship doesn't start until after you graduate the fire academy.
But if you, [00:19:00]
yeah.
we have some smaller
departments here,
That
a lot of departments obviously now are adding transport and some departments don't have transport at all.
And so we have departments here that
you have
to be a paramedic
already and you have to have your fire one and fire two certifications. And so there are at the college that I help teach at the community college,
they have a specific fire paramedic program.
And
so people go there and it turns out to be a two year degree, but you get all the certifications that you need. You go through
everything and you do
that within that two years. And then
you can go
work at those departments.
Those departments do pay a little bit more starting out. Some of them are a lot more starting out than we do,
but we have a lot more avenues.
And I think sometimes that Can be a determining factor or a caveat to, depending on where you go and work,
what different avenues
do you have? [00:20:00] Do you have are there, three or four captain,
Availability,
Spots, or do you have potentially 15
captain spots that, that possibly be available for you?
And are you
a person, if you would just apply and then you go interview for the captains
or, for
the captain spot versus that you have to actually take a promotional exam to get that job.
So I think that there is differences based on where you are
To make for
more
opportunities.
I
think
that is,
unfortunately, it's a national issue. And that's especially after COVID and then [00:21:00] everything with the riots. But then too, it's hard to keep up with wages. And unfortunately we have to be realistic about that.
Nowadays there are many people who are, they want
money right
now, whereas we know anybody in the fire service, anyone doing police
work, anyone doing military, any type of public service. We know that's,
it's more of a, that's a long game type of job because we're working towards the pension. Is the money good? Yes, depending on where some places, depending on where you are, but it's more of a long game I would say anybody looking to do it, to do the job wanting to be a firefighter, wanting
to be an EMT, Wanting to be a paramedic, that they
should do it. If that's
what they want to
do, you can ask other people's advice,
but don't
allow someone else's ideas or
someone else's choices
that they want to make
for themselves
to become your
own. If that's a
choice that you want to make.
Again, I've been able to teach
now on three different
continents. [00:22:00] Because of this, I've
been to Africa went to
Kenya
and,
was able to bring some really,
close friends of mine
to come and teach with
me. I've been to Australia, And being in Australia, I was able
to go to Sydney and to
Melbourne And teach and do stuff at
Latrobe university there. And then obviously teaching here. I've been to so many different cities to
speak about our program with the EMS
Academy and just everything
that we're doing at our department And to hear that
we're doing things that other departments are not doing. I'm very proud of that. And
so
you don't have to wait for somebody else
to do something.
If it's something that you want to
do, run your own race too.
That's a
Brittney, some fire departments make allowances
for women when become
pregnant. Does your department have any positions for women when they become pregnant? Have you ever had
that
encounter?
Yes. So when I was on the BLS unit, I got pregnant with my son before I was [00:23:00] hired on the suppression side. And I actually was on light duty on an assignment, QA ing our fee fees or our fire runs. And then we do have women who have been pregnant on our departments who have been given light duty assignments.
But we also have people who get injured on the job and sometimes off the job that are offered light duty assignments, as well as we have a pretty good parental leave Plan now. So the women get six weeks and then if you need, and then after that you get to go out to training for a little bit to prepare yourself to come back to the job after being off.
And then our men also get get leave after they've had a baby. So I guess it makes us pretty unique.
leave.
Yeah, it's not the one year that Canada gets, but we get something. So
When I came on, they didn't have anything like that. They
didn't expect us
to get pregnant, but
I've heard that from a few people.
yeah,
I'm proud that we got that started. Okay,
so tell me something[00:24:00]
that you are most proud of after becoming who you are, the first Black female captain of Minnesota. St. Paul, Minnesota, right? That's what we're talking about, right?
I am very proud in the fact that even before becoming a captain was able to accomplish the things that I've accomplished. So teaching on three different continents. Being able to be in Kenya and teaching there with my friends and actually having an opportunity to meet a woman that I'm a part of socialism and smoke, a Facebook group together with, and then going to and teaching in Australia and speaking, but then also speaking around the country here and going around and then teaching the classes.
But to be honest, The hardest job and my most rewarding job is being a mother and that my kids inspire me. My kids are my why. [00:25:00] They drive me. And so especially my, I can't even say, especially I don't, my kids know, I don't have a favorite. If you ask my daughters, they'll say it's my son because he gets spoiled.
But really they all inspire me. My two youngest want to be firefighters. And so that, Honestly it's probably about my proudest and then my additional kids to be able to have them say call me and be like, mom, like, all right, I want to be like you, what can I do to do this? Do that. And I told them just be yourself, but definitely I have a very, a lot of proud moments, but, and most of them came well before I was a captain, but they helped to prepare me to become one.
You are definitely an inspiration.
Thank you.
And I'm looking forward to where you're going to go from here. Whatever you're going to do, I'm going to be keeping an eye on you.
Thank
I'm very happy that we had this interview and I thank you.
Thank
up the
good work.
Thank you.
So in [00:26:00] closing, is there anything else you'd
like to add?
Oh, I said I'm big on running your own race. So anybody that, again, the wants to do the job whether you want to be an EMT, a firefighter, a paramedic, no matter what it is I tell my students, our EMT students, you don't have to want to be a firefighter to take our class. So if you want to go be a doctor a pharmacist, a lawyer, whatever it is, run your race figure out your why, know your why.
So that you have the opportunity to know what it feels like to walk in your purpose. And when things start to get hard, don't give up continue to press, forward because you will face your your toughest obstacles when you're closest to your greatest victories. And
part.
yeah. And so just making sure that whatever it is that you want to do, and then Find yourself a really good mentor and not a mentor that wants you to be like them, but a mentor that inspires you and encourages to be you and be like you.
Because all of us have something unique and something [00:27:00] special that we offer and bring to the table. And if you don't feel like you're at the right table, build yourself a house and become the house that somebody else sets a table in.
That's right. That's right. Be your best cheerleader, huh?
yes,
yourself. I love that. Thank you
very much for joining
the African American female
firefighters podcast because we are blazing trails
and breaking norms.
absolutely. Thank you.
Remember to visit the African-American Firefighter Museum at 1401 Central Avenue in Los Angeles, situated at the corner of 14th and Central, just across the street from the Coca-Cola bottling plant. The museum warmly welcomes visitors every Sunday from one to 4:00 PM. For more information, [00:28:00] you can reach us at 2 1 3. 7 4 4 1 7 3 0. Thank you for tuning in and being a part of our journey, celebrating African American women in Fire service. Stay tuned for more remarkable stories and experiences.