BUFFALO, N.Y. — Over a decade ago, a terrifying family experience set Jessica Calandra's life on a new path.
"I got into the fire service because when I was in high school, my grandma suffered out of hospital sudden cardiac arrest. Thankfully she was successfully resuscitated by first responders and is totally fine today."
After ten years of dedicated service, Calandra was recently elected Chief of the Pine Hill Hose Company #5.
She is the first female chief in the company's 97-year history.
"I am reflecting on what's gone on before me and what's going to continue on after me," she told 2 On Your Side. "I know some of the first female firefighters here at Pine Hill and they're only a generation before, so that fact that it's taken 97 years is kind of amazing to me." >
That could be because helping people is in Chief Calandra's nature.
She followed in her mother's footsteps to become a volunteer firefighter.
She's also a full-time E.R. nurse and a part-time paramedic for the City of Buffalo.
"I joined the fire department first after that incident and fell in love with all of this, and decided to take my EMT course after that," she said. "I finished my bachelor's degree and was falling in love with EMS, so I went back to school to become a paramedic and then decided to take the next step and dive further into the medical field and learn as much as I could, and the next step was becoming a nurse."
As chief, one of her goals is to recruit new members.
She says women make especially great firefighters.
"I think the biggest thing that makes a woman a good firefighter is the compassion that we show people on scene," she said. "We are overanalyzing situations and how people are feeling. It's the women going up to the families who are affected by a house fire and saying can I get you a water? Can I get you some place warm to sit?"
This new leadership role is a way to pay it forward to the company that's given her so much.
"I've never looked at this as a sisterhood or brotherhood," she said. "I know traditionally the fire service has been a brotherhood. But I just look at it as my second family. When I'm not at home, I know that the men and women at this department and throughout the county have my back. If I need anything inside the fire hall and outside I can call on them for help."
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