 A few years ago I went to a really great fire safe kids presentation and where I was involved and I actually drove the truck to their fire safe kids presentation as well and I was the only girl on the crew. There was a bit of murmuring with the children and especially when it was play time and we were leaving I heard a couple of little boys ask the other girls, oh what are you going to do when you grow up, are you going to be a firefighter like her? And one of the girls just said oh I think I can and that was awesome, opening up possibilities. I think it's also important that people see that women can work in these operational spaces and be just as effective as the guys. A lot of it's history based so it's breaking down those barriers but it's always been a man's role and I think that is improving but it's going to take a lot of time to do that. Dad was really proud and he was very excited and I think it's scared mum but she's been very supportive. My grandfather couldn't get his head around it, he thought it was very dangerous and it was all you know but then when she explained you know the training provided prepares you for that to an extent and it doesn't matter if you're male or female in that regard, the training is the training and you know the benchmark that you need to meet for that. We went to a structure fire and we were in the later stages of the fire and I'd come out of BA and I was changing over cylinder so taking my helmet off, taking my jacket off and they realised that I was female and some of the female family members approached me and took me over to a woman who'd been inside the fire and was actually pregnant but they hadn't felt that they could come forward and speak to the firefighters so I was able to get her some first aid, get an ambulance coming for her and yeah be able to provide care and so it just goes to show that sometimes in those communities that they still have the fear of maybe approaching men in that situation so I think that was really good. I think the biggest areas we can make a difference personally is when we go to school groups and groups and we teach people and we say firefighter, not fireman, I think that's really important to teach girls that they can be a firefighter too. It's about empowering women to believe that they can do whatever they put their mind to. You don't stand in the background because you know that that's a tricky thing for you to do, you just sort of got to put yourself out there but also in doing that know your limitations and have the people around you to work through those limitations. If you want it you need to work hard for it and make it happen. You can make anything happen if you're passionate about it. I think everyone who steps up into this environment and has a go offers something really valuable to the rest of us.