Where are you from? I grew up in Jackson. I was born in Michigan, but we moved here when I was five.

How long have you been a part of JH Fire/EMS? Since 2006.

What made you want to join? I was looking for a volunteer position in the valley. I had been working with the Teton Literacy Center and I wanted to do something else, so I took a CERT course. Actually, it was Brian Coe who taught my class up in Moran, and I was the only person under like 60 years old in that class at 25. I loved that class, and I was like, ‘Well this is cool, I want to do this times 100.’ Chief Coe suggested that I consider applying for the fire department. That was that.

Did you have a background in emergency services at all? No, my background is in landscape design!

What is your current role in the department? I am the Wildfire Prevention Specialist. It’s a new position, it’s only a year and a half old.

Can you talk me through your journey with the department over the years and how your position came to be? So, I joined in 2006. There are three of us left from that class: Lily Sullivan, Tyler Dunn, and myself, but there were like 45 people in our class, it was huge. I started out as a volunteer at Station 3 and within 6 months I was a volunteer here at Station 1. I volunteered with Station 1 for 10 years and I was an LT for 7 or 8 years, but then I moved to Alpine and had to leave the department. Fortunately, within a couple months, a fire inspector role came up so I took that job until they made this position which has been requested by TAWPC (Teton Aerial Wildfire Protection Coalition) for a long time. Since 2016 they’ve been trying to create this position, and Chief Hansen helped that come to fruition in 2021. 

And how has it been so far? It’s interesting because I’m sort of making up my job as I go…what do they say? Like building the plane while flying it. The fire department has such strong interagency cooporations that I have so many mentors throughout the valley with the National Forest, the National Parks, the conservation district…there are always people who can provide me with guidance and direction.

What are your current certs? I proboarded all my fire stuff, so technically I still have all of those, but I haven’t been to a fire training outside of CPR in like five years. I have Fire Officer 1, Fire Instructor 1, all that stuff. I was an EMT but that has lapsed. Now all my certs are in things like Fire Inspection, Wildfire Mitigation, and Fire and Life Safety Education.

What are your future goals in the department? And do you have future goals for the dep? Sure. I think the answer is kind of the same now that we have my position. I see that there is so much opportunity for the fire department to help Teton County become more fire-adapted, and I think the best way to do that is to build a wildfire division where we have fuels crews that can go out and do work on public and county-owned lands so that not only are we telling people what they can do to help, but we are also available to demonstrate what it looks like. That’s my long term goal is to grow this position into a division of like 6 people. That would work with training because it would keep people trained up on their wildfire certs and also would help Jackson in general.

What would you say is your favorite part of your job or about volunteering? I miss volunteering so much. I miss Wednesday nights going to training and then to Thai Me Up right after. It was so much fun. Just the camaraderie of being here because you want to be and not because you’re paid to be here was awesome.

What about the most challenging part? I think the most challenging part is that Teton County has never lost a house in a wildfire, so it’s really hard to convince people that they need to take this seriously because they haven’t faced it before. I’m the one yelling ‘the sky is falling, the sky is falling.’

What advice would you give new recruits coming into the department? Stay hungry but stay humble. The first couple years are challenging. You learn so much; it comes at you hard and fast. It’s so worth it once it’s muscle memory, though.

What do you wish you had known when starting? *chuckles* To be more humble…to shut up and respect your elders! 

What would you say is the most valuable trait for someone to have in this line of work? Adaptability. You absolutely need to be able to work with so many personality types. One minute you’re going to be putting a band-aid on someone and the next you’re going to be sweeping kitty litter on a crash and the next you’re going to be wielding a chainsaw, you have to be able to be adaptable.