By RITA FARLOW
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Copyright 2007 Times Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
LARGO, Fla. — First as a paramedic and later as an emergency medical services lieutenant, Shelby Willis said she has always held herself to the same standards as her male colleagues at the Largo Fire Department.
“Everything I expect them to do, I’ve done,” Willis said.
Willis, 39, was recently tapped to lead the agency’s medical services division, making her the department’s first female division chief.
Another woman, logistics manager Frances Parker, is on the same level in the department’s hierarchy but is a civilian administrator.
Willis’ new job is noncivilian, meaning that she exercise authority in the field.
“She worked very hard as a firefighter in the field,” Fire Chief Jeff Bullock said of Willis. “She was the first female SWAT medic, which is a grueling program to go through. This woman has earned her way up through the ranks.”
Born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., Willis moved to Clearwater with her family as a young child. She spent four years as a police officer in the Air Force and was stationed in Cheyenne, Wyo., before returning to Florida in the early 1990s.
It was on a ride-along with the fire department during her paramedic training that Willis decided she wanted to become a firefighter.
“I knew that second that’s what I wanted to do,” she said. “The medical aspect obviously attracts you, but saving people’s property, their businesses, their lives - it’s just an amazing feeling to be able to do that.”
Willis joined the department as a paramedic in 1997. Meanwhile, she held a second job as a paramedic at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and took classes at the University of South Florida in Tampa. In 2003, Willis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
In a department with about 150 employees but only five female firefighters, Willis said she has learned to find alternate methods to complete tasks in the male-dominated, physically challenging world of firefighting.
“You learn how to do things smartly, instead of relying on brute strength,” said Willis, who is 5 feet 4 and weighs 120 pounds. “I’m not 6 feet tall, 200 pounds. I’m not a commanding figure, so I have to do it in a different way.”
The new position requires Willis spend more time on administrative duties, and less time in the field, she said. But she still goes out on emergency calls and makes regular visits to city fire stations.
Willis coordinates the department’s CPR training for city employees and the public and is in charge of the SWAT paramedic program, a small group of medics who are specially trained to work with the city police department’s tactical response team.
For the past six years, Willis has volunteered at the Florida Elks Youth Camp in Umatilla, assisting children who are burn survivors.
Willis said she’s proud to be the department’s first woman division chief, but that her gender is irrelevant in regard to her abilities.
“I feel lucky that I’m a part of this team,” she said, “not that I’m the girl that’s part of this team.”
Fast Facts:
Shelby Willis
Personal: Lives in Land O’Lakes with her husband, Victor, and three cats, Neko, Calhoun and Ophelia.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Professional: Joined department as a firefighter-paramedic in October 1997; promoted to emergency medical services lieutenant in July 2005; promoted to division chief of medical services in December 2006.