One of my mottos since becoming a firefighter is that you can’t have too many flashlights, carabiners, or knives, so I was excited to review the pink Bright Star Right Angle Responder Flashlight in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.   . You can never have too many flashlights, carabiners, or knives.   I’m always a […]

The Ever Evolving Fire Service   March 28, 2016   MDFR Air Rescue North and Fire Boat North responded to a sailboat approximately 8 miles off Miami to treat and transport a diver with signs and symptoms of severe decompression sickness. Upon arrival, Fire Boat crew boarded vessel, packaged patient, and transferred patient to Fire […]

At 6 AM on a gorgeous spring day I woke up on the wrong coast in a supremely comfortable hotel bed. I had a private room in a Spanish style hostel just south of Fort Lauderdale. A cool breeze rustled the palms outside my window as it wandered in through the screen. It was my […]

My first article for Firefighter Nation and Fire Rescue Magazine! http://www.firefighternation.com/article/firefighting-operations/rescue-water     A video of Air Rescue North’s open water night hoist to the cruise ship Norwegian Getaway–     Thank you Lieutenant Scott Mullin for the great photos. “Always Ready, Proud to Serve”  

The women of Miami Dade Fire Rescue are on a roll. This October Flight Medic Susana Oatmeyer performed an open water hoist in Florida Bay to retrieve a victim from a capsized boat; Rescue Diver Brandy Paternoster and Sal Hernandez rescued a truck driver trapped in a canal; and TRT Firefighter Maggie Castro placed 1st […]

A few weeks ago, I and my fellow friends, Susanna Oatmeyer and Kalynn Cresse attended Career Day at Kendall Lakes Elementary in Miami, Florida.  Although we are all certified firefighters with MDFR, we appeared in the garb of our different roles: Firefighter, Special Ops Helicopter Pilot, and Special Ops Flight Medic .   We staged […]

We all live in our own personal box of limitations. The size of the box has been determined for numerous reasons. Maybe we were told, time and time again, that we couldn’t accomplish a goal.  Maybe we failed too many times, or even just once.  The more we believe our limits, the stronger the walls […]

Confidence is key to high performance. For women in the fire service, confidence can be elusive, but it is essential if we are to thrive (and not simply survive) on the fire ground.  Confidence gets ladders up.  Confidence tears doors down.  We need it to be our best, but ample obstacles exist.  It is challenging […]

My officer and I are rescue divers and awhile ago we pulled a person from a lake.  (I’m being vague for privacy’s sake.)  The call came in for a possible suicide attempt.  The lake was large and dark.  It was at night and we couldn’t see anyone.  Resources were called in.  Police and Fire were […]