Cynthia Sato was on a field trip to a fire station in grade school when she decided she wanted to be a firefighter.
“[Firefighting] has been itching in the back of my mind since I was a little kid,” Sato said.
Decades later, she has three roles at the Los Angeles Fire Department: as a firefighter/paramedic, as a 911 dispatcher and as a dog handler.
According to Battalion Chief Alicia Welch, men comprise approximately 96 percent of the LAFD, but 30 to 40 percent of the women are women of rank, meaning they rise beyond the rank of firefighter. Sato is one of those women.
Welch pointed to Sato as a prime example of how recruits can take advantage of the variety of career options offered by the department. “She’s gone and learned a lot of our career opportunities that the LAFD has to offer,” Welch said.
Sato began in the junior firefighter program, Explorer, before going on to the 19-week EMT basic program and paramedic school through the department. As a dispatcher at Fire Station 4, she helps with emergency calls, though she is also equipped to handle search dogs in case of disasters.
Welch is also heading the department’s efforts to recruit firefighters from diverse backgrounds, with a focus on women and minorities. The goal, she said, is to have the department reflect the city, which is made up of 51 percent women.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be up to 51 percent women in our workforce, but we can do a lot better than 4 percent women,” Welch said.
Then there are Asian Americans, who make up 14 percent of the city but 7 percent of the LAFD. “When we respond to an Asian person’s home, it’s important that one, we speak the language, but two, that we understand their culture and that we can break down any barriers based on that connection,” Welch said. According to the U.S. Census, more than 180 languages are spoken in Los Angeles. “We want to make sure we can reach everyone in the city, and that they can see somebody on the firetrucks and ambulances that look and speak the same languages that they do,” she said.
Serving one of America’s most diverse cities as the second-largest fire department in the country means that career options in the LAFD range from paramedics to firefighter fivers, helicopter and boat pilots, heavy equipment operators, truck and engine drivers, inspectors and arson investigators.
“This is cheesy, but my favorite part is getting to help people,” Sato said. “It’s helping individuals because they got their finger stuck in a gate, or they had a heart attack, or their loved one is injured or sick, or their house is on fire. It’s getting to see something different every day.”
Sato also volunteers at the Burn Institute, a non-profit organization that works with burn survivors, every summer, where she is a counselor at a camp for kids aged 8 to 18.
What advice would Sato give to firefighter hopefuls? “Really think about whether this job is for you,” she said. “It’s not something to jump into right away because you heard about it on TV. So really do some research, talk to people, come to the fire station, talk to the guys who are here, and talk to the ladies who are here.”
LAFD is recruiting! Find more information at joinlafd.org.
