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Rader is only female currently on HFD
HUNTINGTON -- When Jan Rader was working as a jeweler in Washington, she saw a woman have a heart attack outside her store. She didn't know how to help, but two of the four firefighters who were first responders to the scene were women.
Not long after that, she started noticing female firefighters elsewhere, at the scene of a car accident and elsewhere fighting a fire. A friend encouraged her to think about it as an occupation, and when her parents, Bob and Kay Rader, called from Ironton and said that the Huntington Fire Department had an opening, she came back to the Tri-State to apply.
In 1994, she joined as the third woman ever to serve with the Huntington Fire Department, and today, she's the only woman on the department and the only ranking female firefighter in the state of West Virginia.
"She's a credit to the profession," Fire Chief Greg Fuller said. "She performs as well as her male counterparts in any task on any occasion."
Rader, 42 and a captain with the fire department, works as a training officer with the department and as administrative assistant for the Tri-State Fire Academy. She trains firefighters throughout the region and the state. And if there's a fire, she suits up and goes.
You won't hear her whine about being the only woman in a department of 106, or how difficult it is to wear 50 pounds of gear on her 5-foot, 4-inch, 120-pound frame. You'll hear her talk about how it's like a family -- like having about 100 brothers -- and how she still wishes more women would give it a shot.
The two women who worked with the Huntington Fire Department before Rader were Debbie Paulson, who stayed about a year in the 1980s, and Danielle Bauer, who was there 11 years in the '80s and '90s. Rader worked with her a while.
"She had a true love of the job and a lot of respect," Rader said. "She made my life easy. She paved the way."
There's probably a misconception out there that firefighting is not a career choice for women, but it is, Rader said.
"It is physically demanding. A lot of people think it's complete brute strength, but it's not," she said. "It's a lot of aerobic strength. It's more finesse and how you use what you got. You have to work smarter."
It's about body mechanics. And that's the message she gives to women out there who might consider firefighting as well as the 200-pound guys she's training to join the department.
A challenge? Yes, but she's loved it from the get-go, Rader said.
Her first call was an electrical fire at the old Wiggins restaurant, at the corner of Hal Greer Boulevard and 4th Avenue, now the site of a parking lot.
In describing what it's like to be inside a burning structure, she said the gear they wear allows them to withstand 600 degrees.
How hot is that? It's hard to describe, she said, but you could get an idea by sticking your hand in a heated oven. When it's really hot, you back off.
They usually have a tool with them as well, like a hose or an ax. Firefighters usually can't see inside a burning structure, so they often crawl, and they always go in together.
"A lot of times, the heat drives you to the floor," she said. "We have a lot of safety features built in. Two firefighters are geared up and ready to rescue at all times. ... We have excellent shift commanders that are very good at warning us of danger.
"It's certainly a team effort, and you depend on each other to save your life. We're very good at communicating on the scene."
When they're in a burning structure and hear creaking sounds that indicate the structure might collapse, they can't think too much at that moment. They think about it later, she said.
"We're trained to take calculated risks," Rader said. "You have fear, but not too much fear. You just do what you have to do."
It's a job she wouldn't trade for the world.
"I love what we do and what this profession stands for," she said. "I would love to see more (women in the Huntington Fire Department) someday. Regardless of gender or color, you have to love this job. It shows you the worst life has to offer and the best life has to offer."
By "worst," she means senseless loss of life. Death that is preventable.
"And you see the human spirit soar," Rader said. "I've seen my coworkers do superhuman feats. A lot of people call firefighters heroes, but they don't like to be called heroes."
They're trained to do a dangerous, stressful job. But they don't see it as heroic, she said. It's just what they do.
Firefighters also have a lot of other lesser-recognized duties. They extract people who are trapped after auto accidents. They respond to chemical spills and cardiac arrests to prepare patients before the paramedics show up.
And these days, Rader does a lot more than that.
She's a paramedic and an Urban Search and Rescue Technician, which involves going into collapsed buildings to rescue people. She's also a hazardous materials technician, and a fire and EMS instructor for the state of West Virginia.
"She is very helpful to me here as administrative assistant," said Jerry Beckett, director of the Tri-State Fire Academy. "She's very personable, and in our job, you have to be personable."
He said when he was considering taking the job at the academy after retiring as deputy chief of the fire department, one of the stipulations was that Rader would be there to help out.
And she has. She followed Beckett around after a 2004 chemical spill in Westmoreland, and her notes were so detailed they were subpoenaed in court.
"We have traveled a lot for training in West Virginia, and she's been a pleasure to work with and has been my right arm on several things," Beckett said. "... I don't pay any attention to the fact that she's a woman. It doesn't make a difference. She's very competent and does a good job. I don't care if she's a woman, man, gorilla, whatever."
There has remained only one woman in the department for several years now, but it's not for lack of trying, Rader said. She talks to kids at career fairs and has talked to groups such as the Girl Scouts, showing them the possibilities out there for girls.
Fuller said he'd like to have both more women and more minorities in the department to better reflect the community.
In about seven years, Rader may be retiring. Because the job is hard on the body, firefighters retire at an early age, and she's attending nursing school right now in preparation for her next career. Until then, she plans to do some part-time nursing.
When the time comes for her to retire, it will be a loss, Fuller said.
"We'd be losing an excellent firefighter and a key member of our staff who helps with the recruitment and development of all our firefighters," he said.
