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Meet Albany's New Deputy Fire Chief

In August, Captain Maria Walker was promoted to Deputy Chief, the highest rank ever held by a woman in the Albany Fire Department. She is a third generation firefighter, following her grandfather, Frank J. McGarry, and her father, Frank A. McGarry, who both served as firefighters in the Buffalo Fire Department. Walker recently sat down with WAMC's Capital Region Bureau Chief Dave Lucas to discuss her new rank.

There are three women right now in a 260-member Albany Fire Department, of which you are one, whatever posessed you to try your hand at firefighting?

"I have to be perfectly honest. I was headed to law school. I was in college, and my father said to me 'you're old enough. Your brother's takin' the test. You take the test.' So it was really at my father's urging that I took the test. And he said 'you know if you wanna be hired to be a firefighter you need to be an EMT, emergency medical technician. Even if you don't take the job, that's a good life skill, how to handle yourself in an emergency. Go get the class.' And I said 'okay.' I was 19. Still doing what my father wants me to do. And the letter came that the fire department was interested in hiring me. And my father said to me 'give it a shot, you can always quit.' And here I am.'"

Any regrets about having not followed your original path?

"None. I have the best job in the world. I just didn't know it, at 19, that it would be."

Is firefighting in your blood? Does your family have a history of public service in this vein?

"My father and my grandfather were both members of the Buffalo Fire Department, but I have eight siblings and I'm the only one that does this."

Give us an idea of the timeline here.

"I was the fourth female hired in October of 1989. I beceam a lieutenat in , I believe it was December of 2006. I was promoted to Captain in November of 2011. And just promoted to Deputy Chief a couple weeks ago."

How do you account for your rise through the ranks?

"The promotion to Lieutenant and Captain is done by Civil Service Exam. I did well on the Lieutenant's test and I'll be honest I did okay on the Captain's exam, but they were able to reach me through the process of the Civil Service requirements. I was quite surprised when the chief asked me for the resume. And honored."

So here you are, settling in, what's your day like right now?

"I work mostly with the training division and the Captain that works in that office, training the firefighters, training the EMTs, training the paramedics.  Making sure the recertifications are kept up. The EMS supplies for the department, firefighting supplies, all the things that go along with training. That's where I am right now."

Do you ever get a chance to go out in the community and pitch firefighting to schoolkids?

"Over the years I've been asked to come to schools and speak to usually middle school girls about staying in programs with math and science. It's hard to speak for somebody else, but the one thing that I've experienced over the years is the girls will say to me 'well I couldn't do that,' or 'I can't run into a fire.' But I tell them 'you can do it, you just have to do it a little differently.' I use more of my legs when I have to lift something. I do have upper body strength, but I just need to do it differently than the guys do it. And I can still get it done and still get it done just as quickly."

What would a girl who has an interest in a firefighting do to get in line for what could be a career?

"Each department has different requirements, but to join the Albany Fire Department you need a high school diploma, a driver's license and an Emergency Medical Technician card, you need to be a New York State EMT. You can get an EMT card in many places around the state and it takes about six months to do that, roughly, depending on how the classes run. And then you take a civil service exam."

Now I read where another female firefighter has joined the ranks of AFD...

"Erin Engstrom was just hired in January and she was the first female to pass the CPAT or Candidate Physical Agility Test in Albany. I believe there's been at least one other woman that has passed since Erin did. But Erin was the first female hired in 18 years, almost 18 years, due to that requirement... we had women who came very close and didn't quite get past the physical test."

How were you able to juggle between family life and working for the AFD?

"I found it to be a great job, especially when my son was young, due to the schedule that we work in the firehouse. It's one twenty-four hour day on with 72 hours off, so at the end of the week we work a 40-hour week like everyone else. With the three days off it gave me an opportunity to be a homeroom mom, to go on every field trip he had in elementary school, probably much to his dismay. But it gave me a lot of time to spend with my son, so in that way it was a fantastic job. I did have somebody say to me once 'well, when you go to work you could die.' And I said 'and you could step off a curb and get hit by a bus.' There are safety measures that we take. We are trained to do our job. And do accidents happen? Absolutely. But it could happen to me anywhere lese. So I find it to be a great job for a working parent."
 

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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