By Shayna Mace | Photography by Hillary Schave
It takes a special person to run toward a life-threatening situation rather than away from it. But you’d be hard-pressed to find women more enthusiastic about their work than the Madison Fire Department’s (MFD) Debi Dahl, Jillian Kjeldahl and Lisa Becher. For each of them, firefighting and emergency services drew them in for different reasons.
When Dahl was younger, she was in a car accident and a volunteer firefighter and EMT stopped to help her. It spurred her interest in assisting others. Dahl is a community paramedic on MFD’s CARES team (which stands for Community Alternative Response Emergency Services), a unit that’s “trained and equipped to respond to non-violent behavioral health emergency calls that do not require law enforcement,” according to the City of Madison’s website. (A Journey Mental Health Center crisis worker also accompanies Dahl on calls.) She says it’s satisfying to help people work through problems.
“Being able to leave somebody and they’re visibly in a better place … and work with them so [they] feel like they’re being supported … that’s a good feeling,” says Dahl.
Kjeldahl was 39 when she finished MFD’s Department Recruit Training Academy — atypical for the field. Previously, she worked in medical device sales operations but decided to pivot. But firefighting isn’t necessarily an easy pivot; MFD receives thousands of applications per year and only accepts between 10 and 20 recruits into its academy annually.
She’s proud to be a role model for her two young kids and help people in dire situations.
“You show up, and people are relieved you’re there. And that’s a privilege to show up when people need help,” she says.
Lisa Becher, division chief of Mobile Integrated Health, has been with MFD the majority of her career — 21 years. She grew up seeing her dad, a volunteer firefighter in the Fox Cities area, go on calls. (He’s still active to this day, 54 years later.) But working for MFD was “always my dream job since I got into the service,” explains Becher.
Twenty years ago, Becher says there were a lot less women in firefighting, and she felt like she had to constantly prove herself. As chief, she doesn’t feel that way anymore. Becher thinks women are natural leaders, and well-suited for emergency services. Her enthusiasm for the job is obvious.
“When some people’s alarm clocks go off in the morning, they might say, ‘I don’t want to go to work.’ I’ve never had that. [I think], ‘I get to go to work today and make a positive impact in somebody’s life, one way or the other.’”
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