Firefighter Friday: Ashley Baker's Inspiring Firefighting Career

This week we have a very special "Firefighter Friday." We share Ashley Baker's great firefighting journey as a junior firefighter to where her career has taken her now.

Courtney Baker was the one to nominate Ashley Baker for "Firefighter Friday," and we're so glad she did. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to speak to Ashley in person, but we'll get to that later. In the meantime, we wanted to share Ashley's story with you...

Ashley has always been interested in being a firefighter. She was raised in a firefighting family, and we've heard countless times during "Firefighter Friday" about how firefighting commonly runs in families.

Courtney tells us (in the nomination form) that at the age of 15, Ashley attended the first ever Phoenix Fire Camp held for young woman by "Fire Service Women of New York." It was at that point that Ashley completely fell in love with firefighting and knew that's the career she wanted to follow. Courtney continued...

At 16, [Ashley] joined the Lee Center Fire Department following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, as well as many others in her family. Even at a young age, she wasn't scared to jump in and start taking New York State classes.

Then at 18, Ashley was granted interior firefighting qualifications and her EMT certification. She went off to school at Onondaga Community College and received her associate degree in "Fire Protection Technology." Ashley was employed by MOVAC and Rural/Metro and continued to volunteer at Lee Center Fire Department.

Recently, Ashley's career has taken her to South Carolina with the Georgetown County Fire and EMS. She also volunteers as a firefighter for Horry County. That's why we didn't get a chance to talk to her, she's living in South Carolina. But it's so great to hear of this woman's start in Central New York, living her dream, and following where it takes her.

And we love all the wonderful things Courtney had to say about Ashley in the nomination form, and for sharing her story with us. Also included in the nomination form was the following statement:

Ashley is solid proof a female can make her way in the fire service and what happens when you do not give up on your goals.

We couldn't agree more.

Thank you again Courtney, for sharing Ashley's story. And for all that Ashley does as a firefighter and being an inspiration for others, especially women in the firefighting community, we're SO proud to recognize and feature her for "Firefighter Friday."