Gina Perez is up before the sun every morning to make the hour-long commute from Los Fresnos to Hidalgo County for South Texas College’s Fire Science Program. Once she gets to class she puts on her heavy ‘bunker gear’ and gets to work learning the art of fire safety and extinguishing danger. Firefighting is an industry that women are still trying to break into with more frequency. It’s still rare to see a woman wearing full gear, holding the hose as the designated nozzle person and running into a flaming structure. The Basic Firefighter certificate she is pursuing is a semester-long program designed to prepare students for the profession according to standards from the Texas Commission on Fire Protection. It’s noticeable that Perez is the only woman taking the course this time around. She said that took some getting used to.