Thursday, May 15, 2008

Go Girl!

30-year vet worked in every station at the department

As a young woman trying to graduate from San Diego's firefighter academy in 1977, Lonnie Kitch thought she had come to the end of the road when she heard the fire chief's words: “There won't be a woman hanging on the back of a fire truck as long as I'm chief of this city.”

About a year later, that same fire chief signed her department-issued badge, cementing Kitch's place in history as San Diego's first female firefighter.

This week, after 30 years of putting out fires for the San Diego Rescue-Fire Department, Kitch, 52, is hanging up her fire gear for good.

She has worked a job in every fire station in the city. On Monday, she ended her career as an engineer at Santaluz Fire Station No. 46 in Rancho Peñasquitos.


More of the article here.

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