County’s first woman firefighter a grandmother and engine driver
Theresa Bain lived four houses away from the Mercer Road Volunteer Fire Department when she joined the department in 1969, which gave her quick access to the 750-gallon pump truck she was trained to drive for the department.
Bain, a grandmother of two, was believed to be Butler County’s first woman firefighter, and joined the Mercer Road VFD after noticing many times that no one was available to respond to the fire alarm going off at the station just four buildings away from her.
Six women volunteered to learn to drive the department’s engines in 1969, but only Bain and one other woman, Audrey Thomas, actually stuck it out and continued working with Mercer Road.
After enlisting with the department, Bain enrolled in a local-level class on the fundamentals of firefighting, and learned how to run the pumps, tie ropes, climb ladders and drive fire engines.
“It’s frightening when the siren first blasts,” Bain said, “until you get to the phone and learn what it is and where it is.”
