Unsung Sheroes

This is the second of a five-part series for Women's History Month profiling women active in the D.C. community. To nominate a phenomenal woman you think should be profiled, e-mail or fax Community News at Community_News1@excite.com or (202) 806-4638.

It must be like walking into hell.

She approaches the bright orange, wrathful flames as they leap demonically in every direction, enveloping everything within their reach. Her protective suit shields her from the heat. Her helmet blocks the stench of the heavy black smoke that would otherwise engulf her lungs and burn her eyes and nostrils.

Carrying an extra 80 pounds of gear, the firefighter is charged to enter the raging flames and rescue the people inside the building. The temperature is a raging 400 degrees. The firefighter's mind is racing. The screams of the people are becoming fainter and fainter, and the only thing on the firefighter's mind is getting them out of there.

To the average laborer, working only eight days a month may seem like heaven, but for a firefighter, each of those eight days is a hectic 24-hour drama.

Meet Tomi Rucker who has been a D.C. firefighter for the past four years and is passionate about the job.

"It's a real blast," Rucker said. "I like it because you don't know where you are going to be or what you're going to do that day."

An average day in Rucker's life begins by waking up and getting ready for work in order to arrive at Engine Six Station, 1300 New Jersey Ave. N.W., by 5:45 a.m. Upon arrival, Rucker relieves the person whose shift is complete and proceeds to inspect and wash the fire truck, equipment and other tools.

Now it's time for breakfast, the most important time of the day, which gives the firefighters an opportunity to discuss their lives. It allows them to bond and develop a sense of trust as a team. The rest of Rucker's shift is spent conducting and participating in firefighting drills and answering between 20 to 25 emergency calls that day.

Rucker is one of 80 female firefighters out of the 1,700 firefighters in the District of Columbia Fire Department (DCFD). The 38-year-old is the oldest female to ever join the DCFD.

"Being a woman [firefighter] is like being on probation during your entire career. You constantly have someone watching you," Rucker said.

Her first encounter with a fire foreshadowed some of the challenges she would face later in her career.

At the first fire, after she knocked down a door, her fellow firefighters were able to rescue the people inside the building. Those who were standing outside were shocked to see she was a woman when she removed her helmet.

Rucker, a graduate of St. Augustine's College, joined the DCFD at the age of 34. Because of her age and gender, other firefighters questioned whether she could handle the physical requirements of a firefighter. However, she did not allow critics to get in her way.

"When you have young people coming on the job, you have to play mother and father to them. Rucker just hit the ground running," said Raymond Snead, Rucker's supervisor.

While at the DCFD Training Academy, Rucker was able to hold her own; only two men were able to out-run her. This may have something to do with her track background at the University of Maryland and St. Augustine's College.

This background led to three gold medals and three world records in track and field at the 1997 Police and Fire World Games. Rucker took it upon herself to use her own money to get to the games, which were held in Canada.

"When she came back, she still didn't toot her own horn," Snead said.

Continuing her committment to a healthy lifestyle, Rucker became the first physical fitness instructor for the DCFD. She is also a certified cardio kickboxing instructor and was asked to conduct a regular kickboxing class for the DCFD. According to Rucker, the class started out full and eventually dwindled to three people.

"They couldn't keep up with me; the guys said I was working them too hard," Rucker said.

One of the obstacles Rucker faced by attending the Training Academy was the end of her engagement. Rucker's fiancee could not get used to the idea of her sleeping in a stationhouse full of men, so he called off the engagement.

"This was something that I couldn't give up. I loved it too much," Rucker said.

She also had problems getting back into the swing of school life at the Training Academy. Out of school for eight years, she found it difficult to study. Rucker observed that the other trainees were usually married men with wives at home who cooked, cleaned and took care of the children, which left them with extra time for study groups after class. Rucker, on the other hand, was a single mother of a 4-year-old son, Johnathon.

"It was a struggle for me," she said.

Rucker did not have the extra money to pay for daycare and felt that the DCFD was insensitive to the needs that she and other women in the DCFD faced. She vividly recalled an encounter with an instructor who told her: "I don't care that you have a kid!"

In response to the DCFD's oversight in this area, Rucker started the Women's Advisory Committee, which serves as a support system for the women employed by the DCFD. The committee, under Rucker's leadership, was able to get a new policy approved that would allow women to go on maternity leave or be assigned to a desk job as soon as they find out they are pregnant. Previously, the DCFD only allowed women to go on leave three months into a pregnancy. Rucker learned from that experience, that she had the power to change the situation for women in the DCFD.

"One person can make a difference," Rucker said.

The Women's Advisory Committee is now spearheading an effort to actively recruit young women for the DCFD. Last week at the People's Expo, the Women's Advisory Committee had a booth, and they will go to area high schools starting in April. This is the first effort the DCFD has made to recruit in the community.