Across the country and right here in central PA, fighting fire is in most cases a male-dominated field.
But right here in Central Pennsylvania there is an exception to the norm.
Molly Gontis, a 9th grader said, “I’m a freshman.”
Molly is just 16 years old and her partners in fire, as they go by the three amigos, are only 17 and juniors in high school in Boswell.
Liliana Shumaker said, “How did this happen? Um well, girl power I guess.”
Rebecca (Becca) Slate said, “You have to be a team, everybody has to work together to have one goal. In mind. And what’s that goal? That goal is to get the fire out and have everybody safe.”
When I first saw the trio, it was here in Hooversville earlier this year as flames tore through a historic church.
Molly Gontis said, “All of our pages went off on our phone.”
Rebecca (Becca) Slate said, “So that was my first fire I’ve ever been on.”
The high schoolers were in class one minute, then rushing to the fire station the next.