Milledgeville Fire Department Firefighter Heather Nation is pictured at the department’s West Thomas Street firehouse Wednesday. Nation is the MFD’s first female firefighter in roughly 35 years.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The Milledgeville Fire Department has welcomed an unusual new recruit. 

Ever since Heather Nation graduated high school, the Milledgeville Firefighter and Greene County native knew she wanted to pursue a career helping others. A former student hoping to earn a certification in radiography, Nation had never considered a career in public safety until she experienced the impact first responders can have.

“My dad owns his own business; he runs a waterproofing company,” said Nation at the Milledgeville Fire Department firehouse Wednesday. “He was at a job site and fell from a retaining wall, and EMS had to go pick him up. I wasn’t on scene or anything like that, but for some reason, after his accident, I said ‘You know, if EMS hadn’t come and helped him, there’s no telling what would have happened to him. He would have been laying on the ground for who knows how long.’ At that time I was trying to get into the radiography program at Athens Tech, and right then I switched so I could go and do the fun stuff.”

Shortly following her father’s accident, Nation dedicated herself to becoming a first responder. Upon gaining her EMS certification, Nation went to work for an ambulance transport service near her home in Greene County. When she took a part-time job with a Lake Oconee volunteer fire department, however, the public servant knew she had found her calling.

“I went to GPSTC, or the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, in January, and I got my certification in March,” said Nation. “I had been a volunteer firefighter for Greene County since around September, so I left to go to the fire academy in January and started working for Old Salem Fire Rescue in April … As soon as I got to the fire academy 

I fell in love with it, and I knew automatically that it was what I wanted to do.”

For little more than a week, Nation has been learning the ins and outs of the Milledgeville Fire Department. As the department’s first female member in more than 30 years, the new MFD crew member said she is proud to enter a traditionally male-dominated field.

“So excited,” said Nation, when asked how she feels being the department’s only female. “A lot of people at home have asked me why I would want to be around all guys – why not? I wish that I saw more females in the fire service, and one of my big goals is for somebody to see me out somewhere and say ‘I’ve never thought about that’ … One thing I’m very grateful for in a department like this is you have people of all ages and levels of experience, and it’s been so much fun learning from everybody here.”

For much of the past several days, Nation’s shift has spent its downtime quizzing her on the different compartments of her truck, Engine No. 31. With 24-hour shifts interspersed with 48 hours of rest (on top of her part-time duties with Old Salem in Greensboro), the schedule has made for some long days of training.

“A truck like this has eight compartments, and you have to learn exactly where everything is,” said Nation. “Even though I haven’t ridden on many calls, it’s been nonstop training, which is awesome. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, and all my guys are amazing. They’ve each taken time to show me something different, and they’ve all been very patient with me.”

As the MFD’s first female firefighter since Gail Register donned a helmet in 1983, Nation said she hopes to become a resource for a new generation of woman first responders. Although Nation said she has been welcomed by her crew the same way she would have been were she a man, her induction into the MFD family has not come without some good-natured ribbing.

“I can probably come up with a comeback faster than they want me to, so all the guys here learned that pretty quickly,” she said. “I have a lot of guy friends, and where I live you have to be able to dish it back out, or else somebody’s going to eat you alive. I probably pick on them more than they pick on me, but they’ve all been awesome so far.”