Beads of sweat dripped down her face and collected at the bottom of her mask. Her firefighting suit and breathing apparatus were heavy and weighed her down. She crawled forward and pulled the 175-pound “dummy” another 20 feet. It was her third and final drag of the fire victim removal evaluation with only minutes left to complete the task.
“I just knew in my heart that firefighting was what I was meant to do,” said Idaho Army National Guard Pfc. Bailey Craig. “I didn’t give myself any other choice than to get through the evaluation and, ultimately, the academy.”
The evaluation is known by students and instructors as the most physically demanding part of the fire academy, especially for a small woman like Craig, who is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and 130 pounds.
“I heard the academy had a high fail rate and that females don’t really make it,” said Craig.