Aside from putting in hours at the Howard Fire Department, Kelly Krause, Sam Hackl and Carrie Rentmeester have something in common: All were told at one point in their lives that their gender meant they probably would not make it as firefighters. “I was told by a few I was too tiny,” Krause, the department’s newest female recruit, said. “They thought I wouldn’t be able to push through it.” If the doubters could see the women now, they would probably get tired just from watching them train. Each are at different stages in their jobs, but just like any other member of the crew, they complete more than 270 hours of volunteer training, wear 70-pound gear, climb and carry tall ladders, pull 66-foot-long hoses, load and drive engines, perform CPR and above all, are not afraid to go inside burning buildings to help people.