Cindie wrote the book to answer the numerous questions she received throughout her career about how she survived nearly 30 years in a demanding, male-dominated profession and she tells her story of resilience, hard work and commanding respect with honesty, humour and passion for the job.

Cindie told me: “I didn’t want [the book] to be a series of stories about different calls. I wanted it to encompass my story and how I got to this point and how I navigated my career. I’m not perfect, my career wasn’t perfect, but if I can share a little wisdom and give a little advice to someone who loves the career but is feeling like maybe this isn’t for me, that’s my goal.”

Cindie’s story does not start with a child’s dream of becoming a firefighter, in fact it is quite the opposite. She says: “It was kind of a strange journey for me because I didn’t grow up wanting to be a firefighter, it had never crossed my mind, so I always say: I didn’t find the fire service, it found me.”

 

Read the full article on our digital issue, page 47-50.

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