More women becoming firefighters at Mid-County Fire Protection District at Lake of the Ozarks

CAMDENTON, Mo. (KY3) - The Mid-County Fire Protection District has a staff of nine women.

The nine positions range from interns to chief. It is more than a job for the women at Mid-County Fire Protection. For one woman, it is a family legacy.

”It’s been in my blood forever. I grew up in this department, my dad, and all of my family has been here,” said Firefighter Hannah Borgmeyer, ”My great grandpa, my grandpa, uncles, cousins, everybody’s been here.”

Some say there are some obvious challenges in being in the fire industry.

”I’m very short. So the trucks are really big. So being vertically challenged puts a little bit extra pressure on you to get things off the truck and be able to, you know, be with your captain who’s six foot tall. You have to kind of be able to work with them. So just the height challenge is definitely a challenge,” said Firefighter Tyann Ames.

Shaylee Dredge needed an internship in college. She decided to work at Mid-County.

”During COVID, the fire department’s like, hey, we’ll take your extra hands. Now I’m completely obsessed with being up here. It’s so much fun,” said Dredge.

For Fire Marshall Leanne Johnson, she says she hopes other little girls watching will see this as an inspiration.

”I want to just know they can do anything as you can. If you see something and you want to do it, you can achieve it as long as you put your mind to it. And you know you have to work hard for anything you get but always be the girl who’s going to push herself and work hard, not just expect something to be given to her,” said Johnson.

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