Event celebrates P.E.I.'s women first responders, offering support and inspiration

When Karen Morrison launched what would become a 25-year firefighting careerin Windsor, Ont., her fire department didn't actually have equipment that would fit her.

Until then, no woman had ever been a professional firefighter anywhere in Canada.

Born and raised in Hampton, P.E.I., Morrison hadoriginally started working as a dispatcher at the department. Before that, she workedin an RCMPdrug unit but that wasn't the type of excitement she wanted.

She said even though many hail her as a trailblazer for first responders, she also faced many challenges along the way.

WATCH | Canada's first female professional firefighter reflects on her trailblazing career:

Canada's first female professional firefighter reflects on her trailblazing career

7 months ago

Duration 0:42

When Karen Morrison joined her first fire department, she tells CBC, her male colleagues didn't treat her as an equal. On International Women's Day, the P.E.I. native is being hailed as Canada's first female professional firefighter.

"The problem when I first started was getting somebody that would work with me on a truck," she told Island Morning host Mitch Cormier. "The guys were still not sure how it was going to be at a fire scene,was I going to be able to do what had to be done?"

"When I first started they didn't make boots small enough, [or] gloves."

She recounted her fire chief taking her to Detroit, across the Canada-U.S. border, to search forfirefighting gear she could wear from another department, "and found some stuff that fit me."

Morrison will be one of the speakers at an event in Milton on Friday evening, which organizers said will celebrate and connectfemale first responders.

The event, titled "There is a Job For Everyone," marks International Women's Day.ButMarch 8also marks 50 years since the RCMP allowed women to become officersin 1974.

Things may have come a long way since Morrison first joined the ranks of professional firefighters in 1983 it took a decade working as a firefighter in Windsor before any otherwomenjoined her department she said there's stilla need for more female first responders in P.E.I.

"We're seeing more and more women join the fire service now than we have in the past," said Heather Horne, deputy chief instructor with the P.E.I. Firefighters School."But there's still not nearly as many women as we'd like to have;the numbers still need to go up,"

"There's a role out there for everyone and everyone can do this. It's not something that's so intimidating."

'Go ahead and join'

Although there were initial challenges, Morrison said over theyears her firefighting crew at the Windsor department became like a family.

And although there were some tasks she couldn't do, her smaller statureturned out to be ideal in situations that neededa first-responder to squeeze into tight places, such as crawl spaces and attics.

Today, Morrison said she's filled with pride when she sees women stepping into firefighting jobs, or in other emergency response services. Her advice toany women considering such a career?

"Go ahead and join," she said. "It was hard, but there's a reason the requirements to get in are hard.

"It's the type of job where you've got to be physically fit ... It was definitely a special time in my life."

Firefighting instructor Horne said events like the one in Milton this International Women's Dayare important, because they offer first-responder women a much-needed chance to network with each other, share their struggles, and hopefully inspire others to followtheir footsteps into emergency services.

"Whether that's the fire service, RCMP, EMS," she said, "if we can just empower women (and) men to work to their best abilities, we'll just do so much better.

"We want to bring light to just how many women are stepping up so that young women maybe will [say],'I can do that; look what she's doing.'"

Friday'sevent is planned for 7 p.m. at the P.E.I. Firefighters School, locatedat 68 Miles Boulter Dr. in Milton.