Lexington Fire marks historic milestone with first all-female ambulance crew

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) -The Lexington Fire Department is breaking barriers and blazing trails.

For as long as many with the department can remember, there had never been an all-female ambulance crew running a call until now.

“The fact that we get to ride together today is like fun. We’re having a blast,” said Firefighter and Paramedic Chelsie Brown.

When a call comes in, the assigned crew straps on their gear, gets into the ambulance, and heads out.

“Averaging about 15-20, sometimes more, calls in a 24-hour period shift,” said Erin Lucas, a Firefighter and Paramedic.

What you might notice about this crew is that it’s all women.

“The term fireman comes free of bias of gender, age, race, size and I think that’s a great thing,” said Firefighter and Paramedic Michelle Spanyer.

The women don’t get to ride together every day, but when they do, they say it’s never boring.

“I feel blessed just to have this opportunity,” said Lucas.

Erin Lucas, Chelsie Brown, Michelle Spanyer, Olivia Speratos and Tamera Taylor are just a few of the women breaking barriers in a male-dominated field. They call themselves a ‘dream team.’

While the job comes with many challenges, they said it’s easier to navigate them when you get to work with your best friends.

“Everybody is just so close-knit. It’s like a family. It doesn’t feel like we’re at work right now because we do everything together,” said Spanyer.

“Most times, you don’t even have to communicate. You go out on a call, and your crew knows what you want and knows what you need,” said Lucas.

They said they want other women or young girls who are looking into a field like theirs to know that you won’t be held to a different standard.

“You can come in here and make excuses or you can come in here and just work better to be a better fireman every day,” said Spanyer.

“It gets girls like, ‘Oh okay, well they’re out there doing it so we can do it too.’” said Brown.