California Wildfires - Gender Diversity

Cindy Petrich, Donnell Fire Drop Point (DP) 22 Division, gives the day's game plan to firefighters early in the morning on Thursday, August 16, 2018, near Dardanelle, California.

When driving from the Incident Command Post (ICP) to active wildfire areas, mother of four, Petrich, thinks, “Sometimes I feel like I’m in a movie. Is this real?”

“I love this job,” she said during California’s Donnell Fire. “If I wasn’t happy, I wouldn’t be here.”

Petrich, 46, has been fighting fires since 1992. When away on fires, she focuses solely on the tasks at hand and pushes her family, including three sons, ages 19, 12 and 10, a daughter, 8, and a husband, to the back of her mind.

From "Gender Diversity on the Fire Line" for High Country News.

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Cindy Petrich, Donnell Fire Drop Point (DP) 22 Division, gives the day's game plan to firefighters early in the morning on Thursday, August 16, 2018, near Dardanelle, California. <br />
<br />
When driving from the Incident Command Post (ICP) to active wildfire areas, mother of four, Petrich, thinks, “Sometimes I feel like I’m in a movie. Is this real?”<br />
<br />
“I love this job,” she said during California’s Donnell Fire. “If I wasn’t happy, I wouldn’t be here.” <br />
<br />
Petrich, 46, has been fighting fires since 1992. When away on fires, she focuses solely on the tasks at hand and pushes her family, including three sons, ages 19, 12 and 10, a daughter, 8, and a husband, to the back of her mind.<br />
<br />
From "Gender Diversity on the Fire Line" for High Country News.