'The office stuff gets old'

Glaze would be first woman on department's career staff

December 23, 2006|by JENNIFER FITCH

One of 10 cadets participating in the Hagerstown Fire Department's training academy will be the first woman to join the department's career staff.

Deanna Glaze, 23, was the first woman to pass the department's physical agility test administered during the hiring process.

"It's a lot of upper-body strength," Glaze said, adding that the most challenging part was dragging a 150-pound dummy down several flights of stairs.

In moments of weakness such as that, Glaze - a member of Williamsport's Faith Christian Fellowship Church - pauses to pray.

"If I'm in a hallway and the hose isn't moving or something, I pray," she said. "If you're in a fire, there's only one person who is going to get you out, and that's God."

Glaze, who last worked with Community Rescue Service, began volunteering with the Maugansville Goodwill Volunteer Fire Co. when she was 16.

"My brother was a member there, and you've got to do what your older brother does," she said.

Glaze hadn't planned on making fire service a career.

"I used to sell insurance, but the office stuff gets old," she said. "It's really good to go home and feel like you've helped someone."

The key to working with other firefighters - regardless of gender - is earning trust, Glaze said.

She already is looking forward to the academy's graduation and her first call with a new department.

"I just want to get on the street and get things done," said Glaze, who lives in Hagerstown.

The former home-schooler still volunteers with the Maugansville department, where she encourages the 18- to 20-year-old female volunteers to pursue a career in fire service.

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