Van Scoy just one of the guys

FORT MADISON – Lynette Van Scoy is now the first woman ever to wear Fort Madison firefighter gear, and she’d prefer that be the end of the conversation about a glass ceiling being shattered.
Van Scoy was hired earlier this month and brings a wealth of experience and certifications to the department. Her credentials matched up and exceeded the other candidates, and she was the first woman to ever successfully complete the physical agility testing requirements that go along with applying for openings at FMFD.
She was a volunteer in the West Burlington Fire Department for several years and has spent time on the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant fire department. She’s also taught, and has advanced, emergency medical training. The 36-year-old from West Burlington is married to a firefighter on the Burlington Fire Department.
Her gender was put aside immediately by her, Fire Chief Chad Hannum, and the professional firefighters that make up FMFD.
“Once we were through the formalities of the hiring process, I told her Congratulations on being the first female hired and the first female to get through the agility test,” Hannum said. “But after that, I said I’m not going to act like it’s not special, but from here on out, I don’t care if she’s a woman and I don’t care that all the others are men. I’m hiring her to be a Fort Madison firefighter and hold her to the same standards. And she has met and exceeded all our expectations so far.”
Van Scoy said one expectation, aside from being the best firefighter she can be, is to fit in like one of the guys.
“I’ve told them from the very beginning, I just want to be one of the guys with the same expectations,” she said. “This is a job where you have to be able to do the work and I don’t want them to have to ever have to compensate for me.”
Hannum said all the current firefighters are on workout routines to stay physically fit.
“She jumps right in there and gets after it. She said if this is what you guys are doing, this is what I’m doing,” he said.
“This is an athletic job and you have to be physically fit and you don’t know what’s going to be expected of you at any given moment.”

He said a hiring committee looked at all candidates and asked that group which candidate met the qualifications and the intangibles. Each member picked Van Scoy.
“Obviously, it was talked about. It’s going to change the culture, there’s just no way around that, but the guys have been very welcoming to her. This is a job built on trust. Every single new guy that comes through here, the guys that are here have no idea what they are capable of and they don’t know what we’re capable of,” Hannum said.
“So they have to earn our trust, but in the same breath, we have to earn their trust, too.”
Hannum said he can tell when the switch is flipped and the new hire becomes part of the group.
“Going back to the old farm saying, the pond will turn over, and with our last new hire, J.D. Coakley, I was feeling like he wasn’t quite there and then, all in one week, he was accepted and one of the guys – the pond turned over. We’ll see that with her, as well.”
Van Scoy said she kind of fell into firefighting after getting some EMT certifications that needed renewed.
“I fell into this by chance. I moved to Burlington to teach and I was already an EMT and needed to renew so I started asking around and heard people tell me to join the West Burlington Fire Department. And then I actually really, really liked it,” she said.
She said she doesn’t go home and think about becoming the first woman firefighter in Fort Madison, but about how she can get better at what’s in front of her.
Community-based firefighting is different than what she experienced at the ammunition plant and she really liked working with the West Burlington Fire Department, so the migration back to professional firefighting wasn’t a difficult choice.
“At the plant, its more prevention and a whole different mindset. I wanted to be out in the community, using my skills and helping people. That’s the biggest reason for the change,” she said.