VANCOUVER, Wash. — Clark County Fire District 6 will make Kristan Maurer the first female chief in the district's history. She will be sworn in officially on Jan. 7.
Just how rare are female chiefs? In the male-dominated profession of firefighting, there are only approximately 50 female fire chiefs across the 29,000 districts in the United States and around a half-dozen are in the state of Washington.
"I'm a small percentage, but I don't look at myself any differently than a male counterpart. We do the same job, we have the same education and training. The end goal is to always keep the community safe." Maurer said.
Maurer joined CCFD6 in 1999 as a firefighter and paramedic. At the time, she was only the second female to be hired by the department. She spent 17 years on the line and then rose through the ranks as a Captain, Battalion Chief, Assistant Chief and finally the District's first female fire chief.
She went to college with the intent to attend medical school, but quickly realized she didn't like chemistry or math. She chose the paramedic program and interned at local fire stations gaining experience.
"I loved the emergency services aspect. I loved helping people in the greatest time of need and it gave me a little different thing to do besides medicine, so I could do paramedic and firefighting."
Clark County Fire District 6 is comprised of three stations with around 60 firefighting personnel. Her job will be to communicate with the Commissioners about what the district is doing.
"I would say the most important thing is to ensure the health and safety of our firefighters because if they're healthy and safe, then our community is healthy and safe and that's the goal," she said.
Fire service is in the family as Maurer's husband is an engineer for Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue.
Maurer will be officially sworn in at Station 61 in the Hazel Dell area of northwest Vancouver at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 7.