First woman chief fire officer appointed

Given her impressive track record in the public and private sectors, there should be nothing surprising about Maria Melia's appointment as Wexford's new chief fire officer.

What ought to be a surprise, however, is that it has taken this long for a woman to be appointed to such a position in the Republic.

Ireland is not the only country with a gender-balance issue in the fire service. Ms Melia is unaware of any female chief fire officers in Britain and is also understood to be one of the first in Europe.

Her appointment last month may prove an inspiration, not only to women but to young people in general, to consider a career in a service which is generally overlooked when students consider their options.

"I am not into positive discrimination but if we can raise awareness of the fire service as a career option, hopefully we can attract more people and that will include women. There is no reason why a woman cannot do this job, at officer level or firefighting level."

"Physical strength is important for firefighters but skill, experience and team-work are even more so. They do not go out as individuals to an incident, they go as a team." None of Wexford's 55 part-time firefighters is a woman, however, and nationally only 1 per cent of fire-service personnel are female.

At senior fire-officer level, the picture is only slightly better, with just over 90 per cent of positions held by men. Ms Melia stresses, however, that she has never encountered discrimination in the profession.

"I think most of my female colleagues would say the same. We're small in number but we're not treated any differently." The job is a demanding one but highly rewarding, she says.

Her team at Wexford County Council oversees the firefighting and rescue service and is also responsible for fire prevention and safety. "It is my job to make sure we are in a state of readiness at all times but I also have to plan for the future and what our needs are for the next five, 10 to 15 years.

"I have to make sure we have the resources to promote an effective fire-safety programme for the county but also to meet our operation requirements. It is a hard service to budget for because you have to estimate the number of calls as well as identify the training needs, which are paramount."

At present, senior officers are recruited from engineering or architecture graduates, but there needs to be greater promotion, she says, of the fire service as a career option for both women and men.

Her own career path is testament to this. A native of Killorglin, Co Kerry, she graduated from UCC with a degree in civil engineering in 1988. At the time she did not know the fire service was an option. After a further year studying planning in UCD, she went to London and worked as a building control officer for Camden Borough Council.

Most of the work involved checking buildings for fire-safety standards. She returned to Ireland to join Mayo County Council as assistant fire officer, where she learned the basics about the fire service. "I trained as a recruit firefighter the same as any new recruit coming in. Every senior fire officer has to do this and that training is ongoing."

She left the public service in 1996 to join a fire-engineering consultancy firm, Michael Slattery Associates, where she spent over two years helping to design buildings to meet fire-safety standards and worked on safety for major public events such as concerts. She was then appointed assistant chief fire officer in Tipperary North.

She also spent some time recently as an assistant fire adviser with the Department of the Environment and Local Government.