While working as a reporter for the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, Carie Dann ’83 was convinced by a friend to try her hand at a new line of work: firefighting. “She was after me for several years,” Dann says. “I eventually met several firefighters and paramedics, and my interest grew.”
Although Dann’s leap from journalism to firefighting may seem abrupt, the process was gradual. A lifelong sports enthusiast, she grew up in Mason City, Iowa, and attended Waldorf College, where she pursued one of her many passions — basketball. “In my sophomore season, I was fortunate enough to be selected 2nd Team All-America for the junior college ranks,” she reports. “Then I transferred to Wichita State.”
She majored in journalism and, as a senior, worked part-time covering high school sports for the Wichita Eagle-Beacon. Perhaps as a sign of things to come, her jogging route took her past a fire station. After graduation, she worked for the Globe-Gazette and the Times, both newspapers in Iowa. She ranks jogging — at 6 a.m. — with Bill Clinton and Al Gore during their 1992 campaign as one of her career highlights. “We got clearance for me to run with them,” she says. “That morning, we went about three miles at a pace that, well, let’s just say it wasn’t going to get us a spot at the Olympic Trials.”
Although she enjoyed her work as a reporter, increasingly she found herself ready to try something new. “Fire training academies in Colorado last about 12 weeks,” she reports. “It’s intense and challenging — physically, mentally and emotionally. Not only do you have to learn the terminology — spanners, drafting, hose loads, forward lay and so forth — but you also have to learn how to perform it. We did a lot of live training, which was a blast.”
Now a firefighter with the Poudre Fire Authority, Fort Collins, Colo., Dann performs amazingly arduous tasks. Yet the fact that she’s a woman is not an issue. “Our philosophy,” she relates, “is simple: A firefighter is a firefighter.” And like any firefighter, she must be prepared to deal with almost anything — from wildfires in the foothills to hazardous materials incidents to serious motor vehicle accidents. “I love the teamwork of firefighting, when you’re working with a good crew and the call goes well. I work with some tremendous people who are intelligent and caring and good at what they do.” With a laugh, she adds, “I also like the fact we can get filthy dirty. It’s kind of like a socially acceptable way of acting like a kid.”
But her work is hardly child’s play. “I think the public has a perception that firefighters are most likely to die in structure fires,” she says. “Statistically, one of the most dangerous things we do is respond to accidents on the interstate highway because of the possibility of being hit by another vehicle.”
As a firefighter, Dann hasn’t had to relinquish her other passions: sports and writing. To stay in top physical shape, she runs, bikes, rock climbs, snowboards, lifts weights and backpacks. And she stresses that writing “is extremely useful in the fire service. Last year I worked six months with one of our battalion chiefs to revise our personal policies, rules and regulations.”
Wichita State, she says, remains close to her heart: “My liberal arts education at wsu encouraged critical thinking and looking at the big picture, and I’m thankful for that.” Three instructors in particular she remembers fondly: “Charles Pearson, who was my adviser and one of my journalism instructors, was just an excellent teacher. I was a religion minor, and Denise Lardner Carmody and Greg Robinson were instrumental to my religious journey.”
Whether writing, running, snowboarding or, above all else, firefighting, Dann embraces life with fervor, but she’s hardly cavalier. “The risks of my job are somewhere in the back of my mind,” she says, “but it’s not something I dwell on. If I did, I wouldn’t be effective at what I do.”
— Kerry Jones ’00
