Women Are on the Fire Lines Too

Ojai Valley School President Michael D. Hermes expresses gratitude to firefighters who saved the school’s upper campus from a recent blaze (Letters, Aug. 31).

But wait! Mr. Hermes stated that never had he seen “so many men and so much equipment moved so quickly and efficiently.” It was, he assured us, a “very reassuring sight as the men and material arrived and immediately took control of the fire.”

Alas, I wondered, if Ojai had been declared a female-free fire zone? Or, could it be that Mr. Hermes suffers from that myopic notion that only real men fight fires, walk police beats and serve as private school presidents?

Calls to the agencies involved provided immediate clarification. Ojai-Mt. Pinos Division Chief Dave Provencio, whose wife is a former firefighter, estimated that seven to 10 women from the U.S. Forest Service battled the Reeves fire alongside their male counterparts. And Sandy Wells of the Ventura County Fire Department confirmed that at any fire in the Ojai area, at least three to five women would roll in on their engines.

The reality, then, was that 10 to 15 women were doing their jobs, while visions of firemen danced through Mr. Hermes’ head.

With the worst danger of this year’s fire season yet to come, I would prefer to dwell not on the sex, race or religion of the firefighters, or whether they hang their toilet paper over the roll or under the roll, but on their collective cool efficiency in averting disaster whenever the heat is on. For that I thank them all.

CATHY ELLIOTT JONES

Ojai