After 13 years on a department in Illinois, Cheryl Horvath headed west for Tucson, Ariz., where she is now division chief of the Northwest Fire/Rescue District. She was on the board of directors for the Women in the Fire Service in 2007 when it merged with the Women Chief Fire Officers to from the International Association of Women in Fire & Emergency Services. She is now co-president of new group and discussed women's role in the fire service during the I-Women's first meeting in April.

Is there one, easily fixable issue facing women in the fire service?

That whole firehouse living thing seems pretty simplistic. It seems like an easy fix in terms of shared facilities, separate facilities, that kind of stuff. It is amazing to me that some fire departments are still having the same problems with that issue. It is a cultural problem that has led to a physical problem. If you fix the physical part, maybe that will help bring the rest of it along. I'm very simplistic, and one seems to be associated with the other.

Is there a lack of female-to-female mentoring?

There's a lack of female-to-female relationships in the fire service. It starts at the most basic position. That's partly cultural, too. If it was an inclusive environment where women didn't feel like they had to stand on their own, then we'd see a lot more networking going on with women on the job. There's a lot of departments where women never see each other, never talk or associate. And women, by nature, have a tendency to be a little competitive with each another. We have to show women that if you separate, then you've just lost the fight, so to speak. You've lost that networking, you've lost that strength that you could get from each other.

Do the mentoring programs need to be adjusted?

Yes. There's still a lot of work for the rest of us to show people that this is a great job for women. We need to constantly mentor and reach out. It is a responsibility that we all bear and we are going to bear it until we reach critical mass of 17% to 20%, then it is not going to be such an important thing anymore. Mentoring is huge. The fire service is trying to do it anyway, it is just more of a point of emphasis for us.

What was your biggest hurdle?

Not being promoted, and I don't think it was a gender issue, it was a management issue. It taught me that your ability to overcome those things that happen in life is more important than the experience that occurred. It was the greatest disappointment, but the greatest victory in a sense because I came out to Arizona and did OK.

When do you fight the system?

When I got in the fire service I thought it was really important to be accepted. You reach that acceptance point, or you think you do, and realize that maybe some of those things you did to be accepted went against who you are as an individual. Then at some point in your career you decide to start having a voice for yourself. You can't fight every fight; you can't not fight every fight. It is a difficult landscape to negotiate. I venture to say not a lot of people could handle that. You're by yourself, you are isolated. The judgment and decision-making that's involved in our careers is different than it is for somebody who can come in and be part of an overall group and not have to worry about acceptance issues.

What's missing from the dialogue in the fire service?

I'm not sure there is a dialogue yet in the fire service. By us bringing these two organizations together, we are showing that you don't have to have your own little ball and go home with it. What's really important is that we can get everybody to the table. As far as change in the fire service, we are still one generation away. The younger women who are coming in now are just phenomenal. They are not carrying baggage. They think they have a right to be here and they don't understand when someone doesn't agree with that. They want to come in and do the job.

What about the younger men coming in?

My experience is that that is changing. Maybe that's because they've had women in supervisory positions as they've grown up. I find it much, much easier to work with. Younger men don't have the same filters, the same obstacles in front of their faces that we've had to face before.