 So I joined Barwon Heads Fire Brigade in 2003. I've now been here for 15 years. I joined Surf Life Saving when I was 18. My stepfather was a founder member of the Barwon Heads 13th Beach Surf Life Saving Club and he encouraged me to join, which I did. That was also a very male dominated environment. I was the second woman in Barwon Heads who gained the bronze medallion and I was an active participant of State 8th Beach Surf Life Saving Club for quite a few years and became club captain at Barwon Heads. So I was their first female club captain as well, a position I held for two seasons running and at one stage I was combining Surf Life Saving with CFA, which is very diverse you're going from one element to the other, but I quickly became aware that I had to give up one and just concentrate on one organisation and I decided to stay with CFA and happily I've been with the organisation for 15 years now. Women make up 50% of the population and the brigade for example is reflective and representative of the community and there are 50% women if not more in Barwon Heads as well as obviously around the country. So it's vitally important that women join organisations such as CFA whether they're operational or non-operational but from an operational perspective when you're at an incident you take a different perspective with you to whatever it is that you're going to and women also have a degree of empathy, sometimes they can be less intimidating and men perhaps for other people to relate to and it goes back to what I was saying before we're just as capable of doing this good a job being on the end of a hose driving a truck running an incident as what a man is. I'm incredibly proud of the fact that we've got a female captain. I think it sends a fantastic message to the community that women are leaders in our own community and in whatever roles that they choose to be. Helen's not the only female captain down here on the Bellarine Peninsula area and I think that's also wonderful that there's that diversity at a leadership level and I think people really feel proud about that as well. Helen has taught me leadership skills and given me confidence in everything at the CFA. She has proven that females are just as good as males when it comes to the CFA and we are just as capable of doing everything that males can do. I think the favourite part of my job is when we're on the truck on the way home, everyone's safe. We know that we've done the best we can and we've helped someone that's had a really bad day. At any incident I can be doing any job so I guess the important thing is that we're operating together as a team and I'll do what my captain asks me to do so all the crew leader at the time so whether that's tapping a fire hydrant, bowling at a hose, pointing the hose at the fire and putting out the fire, whether it's putting on my BA set and walking into a burning building I'm just as capable and I can do anything that the male firefighters in our brigade can also do. Quite simply do it. There is nothing to stop you from joining. It's a great organisation to be a part of. Certainly here at Barwon Heads we're very welcoming of both men and women but we would certainly encourage any young woman to join the CFA and really be involved in what is a terrific organisation and very encompassing of all gender.