Michele Ice retired from Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services five years ago, though she still turns on the radio to keep an ear out for her daughter, Brooke, a fire fighter and paramedic with the Cherokee Professional Fire Fighters Association, Local 4047.
Brooke Ice was raised around firefighting. Like her parents, her days and nights were dictated by balancing station shifts, sirens, and the call to serve.
“She didn’t have a choice. My husband and I were both fire fighters, so when we were deployed for mutual aid calls for wildfires in South Georgia, we took Brooke with us,” said Michele, who retired after 27 years on the job and is now the Georgia State Director for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network.
I rocked that agility test and then passed all the written stuff. From there, being a fire fire fighter has been the best thing ever.
michele ice, Retired, cobb county fire & Emergency services
Stories abound of sons following their dads into the fire service, drawn to the excitement and honor of protecting their communities. Lesser discussed are the women who have forged fire service careers that compelled their daughters to follow in their footsteps.
Michele joined the fire service on a dare. She was an aquatics instructor at a pool where fire fighters were training. Someone noticed her strength and challenged her to take the agility test, a hurdle many in the male-dominated field believed was too high for most women.
“I rocked that agility test and then passed all the written stuff. From there, being a fire fire fighter has been the best thing ever,” said Michele, who has always leaned into competitive challenges.
As a fire fighter daughter, Brooke did more than her share of ride-along, and became a junior explorer as a teen. Her earliest memories are of her grandfather caring for her between her parents’ shifts.
“I was a little apprehensive about Brooke becoming a fire fighter because I know how hard it is, but I was so proud of her when she finally made the decision,” Michele said. “She is just reaching for the stars, and that’s all I ever want her to do.”
Though retired, Michele remains connected to the fire service through her cancer support work and even tunes into a radio her husband keeps at the house to see what kinds of calls Brooke might be getting.
Brooke has been a paramedic for the Cherokee County Fire Department and a member of Local 4047 for about eight years.
“I think that because of my parents, it never occurred to me that a woman could not be a fire fighter,” Brooke said.
Brooke is in the middle of her fire service career and is looking ahead at what could come next. She’s been taking classes toward a second career in nursing.
I think that because of my parents, it never occurred to me that a woman could not be a fire fighter.
Brooke ice, local 4047 fire fighter, paramedic
As far as advice for other women, Brooke says, do your best. “I used to worry about being the weakest on my crew, but I soon realized we all have different skills important to being a good fire fighter or paramedic,” she added.
Looking back on her early years, Brooke says she wasn’t fully prepared to process the stress of traumatic calls. “But I am seeing more fire fighters open up and be more willing to discuss stress, and I think this is a good development,” Brooke said.
She says the few women in her department, and more men, have begun opening up to discuss challenging issues like processing trauma. “They know I am just a phone call away, so I think we are building up a strong core of a support group,” said Brooke.
Michele added, “As you move along in your career and face all these traumatic calls, you end up with too much junk in your box, so this core group Brooke is talking about is huge.”
