Advocate Asks: Nicole Meselsohn ‘26, Founder of Women in Fire 

By Lauren Rodgers ‘27

AA: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background as a first responder.

NM: I’m from Queens, and I study psychology and pre-med. I've been a firefighter for a little over two years now. I started off volunteering with the Red Hook Fire Company. When I first started, there was only one other female firefighter. What first got me into the firehouse is that I wanted to be an EMT on a broader scale. I wanted to reach the community a little more. And when I first became an EMT, I was asked if I wanted to do fireside too. I had never been asked that question before. I thought, “Yeah, why not?” When I was a kid, I grew up next to a firehouse, so I always thought that firefighting was really cool. I've always been active, and I definitely wanted a job where I could run around a little bit and not sit at a desk all day.

When I started my training, it was hard. There were only three women in class, including myself, and seventeen guys. Halfway through, one woman dropped out, leaving me and another woman among all these guys in a class that is 90% physicality, upper body strength, and stamina, which I was not used to. I didn't have a lot of support back in the firehouse, because it was mainly guys.

In firefighting, there are lots of things that are geared towards men. All the gear is made for men, all the tools are made for men. Most of our trucks are made for a man’s height and build. It's rough. There's one exercise that we do, called forcible entry, where you have to break down a door. A lot of the guys have a really easy time with it, because they're able to use their muscle mass, strength, height, and weight. Women have to do it in a different way, where we put our lower height into it, which means we have to figure out a different center of gravity. It’s a lot of refiguring how we use our physical self to our advantage. It can be really frustrating, and you don't wanna blow up in front of the other guys, because they're already thinking you can't do it. 

AA: Tell us about the history of Women in Fire. 

NM: I created this program last May. I thought, “If I wasn't super supported coming into this, I want other young girls to be supported coming into this.” In New York City, there's a lot of fire departments that don't have women at all. In the fire department I'm in right now, there are no women in a leadership role. In the entire US, only 9% of firefighters are women. That’s a startlingly low number. For me, I thought, “I need to be able to change this. I need to show the next generation of women that we have a place in the fire service—that there are women who came before you.”

I started reaching out to fire departments in the area, like Milan, Germantown, and Tivoli. Last year, Germantown had their first female assistant chief, which was really, really cool. I got to meet with leaders in the area and female firefighters that I didn't know were there, because I didn't think to reach out for support. I wanted to provide a resource for girls to give them support. I wanted to say, “We want you in this service. We want you in this profession. There is a space for you.” We’ve had firefighters come and volunteer their time with us, and it's been really cool. We've had people from five years of experience to twenty-five years of experience volunteer with us. I’m constantly learning things from this program too.

AA: What are some of Women in Fire’s recent projects? 


NM: We have meetings once a month. The last one we did was on first aid, where we did a "Stop the Bleed” session. This weekend, we have a forest ranger coming out to teach about wildfires. My assistant chief at the company I work with came and taught a class on the firefighter search assistant search rescue team. I think it's really cool that we’re able to expose young girls to a wide range of firefighting and show them the different places they can go in the fire service. We’ve had firehouses donate old gear to us, so we do have actual turnout gear for the girls to try out, which is really cool, because that's something you wouldn't have access to without joining a fire company.

All the girls we have are aged 14 to 18, so we can't give them huge responsibilities, but the big projects we do are scenarios comparable to real-life firefighting. We've done a bailout drill where a girl has jumped out of a first floor window, and she's only 15! It’s crazy to watch her do it. I don't know if I would’ve had the courage to do that at 15 years old, by myself, surrounded by firefighters I don't know.

AA: What do you believe are some qualities that this program can instill in young women?

NM: Many things. I would say the courage to push through. Not fearlessness—I don't think fearlessness is a thing. I think we all have fear. I've heard people say that firefighters are brave and fearless. I think we're scared all the time, but we do it anyway. That’s what we're trying to show young women, that there is a place for them in fire service because we can still be afraid, we can still have emotions, but at the end of the day, we do this to help ourselves and the community. Additionally, we show them there's another opportunity for family. I just joined the service two years ago, and I already have a woman in the firehouse that feels like a sister to me. We can learn to rely on the people around us. Together, we can be successful in such a male-dominated profession.

AA: How would you like to see the project grow?

NM: I'm actually really excited about that. I just got accepted into the Get Engaged Fellowship with OSUN, so I'm going to a conference this summer in Lithuania to present the program with students from twenty other universities. One way that I would like to see this grow is networking and outreach. Right now, we have a small number of people involved with the program, and I would definitely like to bring in more community members and more students. 

If you would like to get involved with Women in Fire’s amazing project, check out their website or reach out to [email protected]. The Annandale Advocate would like to thank Nicole for her time and thoughtful responses.

Post Date: 05-02-2025