Madison (Wis.) Fire Chief Debra Amesqua was one of only seven female fire chiefs in the country when she took her post in 1996. Today she's nationally recognized for her work on senior-level management training for fire service women and breaking down barriers for people of color. Amesqua was elected the first president of the Women Chief Fire Officers in November under the group's recent reorganization. Fire Chief recently spoke with her about her experiences.

FC: What are the core goals of the WCFO?

Amesqua: The goals that we set out are five very simple ones. First, we're going to try to increase our membership to the threshold of 300. We think that we would qualify for a subsection of the IAFC if we meet our membership at 300, so that would give us an option that we wouldn't have up to that point. We have a committee that is focusing on membership, and we have a list that we've gathered over the past five years of approximately 200 women chief officers who are interested in the organization, so we'll be collecting our dues and meeting that threshold hopefully this year.

We also want to focus on our conference, which is in November. Motorola has been a wonderful ally for us. They sponsored our last conference and they've already donated $10,000 to accommodate the cost of our November 2003 conference, which will be in Florida. So we're focusing on fund-raising as well, and we have a committee that's going to be doing that.

We also recognize that any organization has to collect data, and that's extremely important to us. We don't know how many women [in the fire service] there are nationally and internationally, so we're going to start to create a database through our registration and start to build on that, make it a database that can be transferable to the upcoming officers in the organization throughout the year. We're trying to look at grant monies to try to focus on communication and building that database.

Last but not least, we really are going to focus on a coaching and mentoring program. We think that we have a group of women who are now very experienced in the upper echelon of the fire service, and we've now organized so we have everybody in the room at the same time, and we feel like we can lay out some thought, ideals and philosophies that would work.

FC: Why is there still a need for segregated groups within the fire service?

Amesqua: I think that we have a unique set of needs and concerns. We are a very deliberate, intentional, inclusive group of women, and we feel that we are developing a really powerful network of experienced women chief-level officers. We feel like we have a strong voice if we consolidate our efforts and really put down on paper what our unique concerns are. If we can make those available and make those needs known to other organizations such as the IAFC, we feel that we can work in concert to develop a mechanism to address the issues that women have related to the fire service nationally and internationally. I don't think you can do that without having a concerted effort in that area.

FC: How far do you think diversity in the fire service has come or has to go?

Amesqua: I think certainly the numbers have increased, there's no doubt about that. We see a number of women in the fire service. We see a number of people of color; African-Americans and Hispanics and Asians and all of the different cultures. I still think that we have to take a look at the culture of the organization. There's a huge difference between counting numbers and actually addressing the cultural differences and the importance of organizational cultural change. Now that we have people who represent different cultures and different interests and unique needs, what are we doing about it?

FC: What can chiefs do to improve and encourage diversity in their departments?

Amesqua: It starts with the people you hire and the systems that you use to evaluate your incoming candidates. I've been a strong supporter of really documenting and validating every step of the way in the entry-level process. I'm intimately involved in every single hire in my department. I do not allow anyone to take that responsibility, and I personally oversee and interview the candidates that we eventually hire.

Now, you can begin at the entry level, but you have to have leadership at the top that's willing to really get down to the nitty-gritty and the nuts and bolts of the system and ask, “Is this the best system to bring in the most diverse group of people into the organization that has the attributes, character, characteristics and behavior that are consistent with what you're trying to create in your organization?”