If you ask the only female firefighter with the Whitehorse Fire Department if she'd like to see more women join the ranks of the local crew, the answer's simple: it's something anybody who's interested should be encouraged to pursue.

"It's a great career,” Kiara Adams said in an interview earlier this week.

Though it was just in October that Adams became a full-time member of the department, she is no stranger to firefighting.

She has been working as a casual member for several months and as a volunteer since she moved to Whitehorse in 2010.

In fact, Adams really started her career in firefighting when she was 15, before she could legally even volunteer.

In the year or two before she could fill out the paperwork to legally volunteer, Adams took in the happenings of the fire department, calling herself a "hall rat,” hanging around the Mt. Lorne fire hall where her dad was a volunteer as well.

Adams never shied away from hard work, having kept a dog team from the age of 11 until 2007, in addition to volunteering with the fire department.

Emergency services are something she's always been interested in – at various times having considered careers as a paramedic or RCMP officer.

It was firefighting, though, which Adams has continually been involved with from an early age.

"I really enjoy it,” she said with a slight grin.

It was a move to Whitehorse from Mt. Lorne that had her consider volunteering with the capital city's fire department.

Being selected as a recruit meant submitting a formal application, passing a written aptitude test and a basic physical fitness test.

Already having her Firefighter Level 1 rank through her work at Mt. Lorne, she said she wasn't too surprised to be accepted.

"I was really happy,” she said, noting that she didn't know how many people had applied or what their experience was compared to hers.

Just like all the other volunteer recruits, Adams had to go through the department's program which volunteers must pass. It involves both physical training one full day each week and class work one evening a week in addition to studying and training outside of the class time.

At the end of the three-month period, recruits then have to pass the "combat challenge” involving running up five flights of stairs, doing a rope pull, a force entry or Keiser, an exercise dragging a hose and carrying Randy (a life-like mannequin) to safety.

"It's an awful lot of fun,” she said of the overall recruitment process.

Once Adams joined the ranks of the other 29 volunteers in the Whitehorse department, she learned even more.

"There's lot of additional training,” she said, recalling learning to drive the Whitehorse trucks, aerial training and so on as well as assisting the department in responding to calls.

It takes a full two years of volunteering before firefighters in Whitehorse can apply to move up the ranks to become a casual member.

That means taking on some shifts, filling in for regular members and the like.

Once those two years were up for her, Adams quickly began doing her casual training, learning what to do on shift and earlier this year was hired to a term position of six months as a casual.

Wanting to stay with the department in a full-time role, when the opportunity presented itself, Adams submitted her application and went through the interview process.

She was selected to the crew of 26 full-time members (in addition to the 30 volunteers) along with other members who moved up in rank.

Dave Dowie was promoted to captain, Morley MacKay to platoon chief and Jason Kelly was hired on as a full-time firefighter.

For Adams being part of the full-time crew has meant being first on the scene, rather than being among the last to the scene as a volunteer or simply back-filling staff at the station.

While Adams may be the first woman to take on a full-time position with the Whitehorse Fire Department, both she and fire chief Clive Sparks stated their belief that it hasn't changed the atmosphere of the department.

The fire department works as a team, they both noted in separate interviews, and members are respectful with one another.

"She is a team member,” Sparks said, noting there shouldn't be any need for changes.

As Adams noted, she doesn't feel any different from the other members of the crew.

Sparks was also quick to note that the department has a female dispatcher and has had a number of women serve as casual and volunteer members in the past.

While the new Public Safety Building at the top of Two Mile Hill includes facilities for both male and female members, Adams said there are no major issues at the older firehall on Second Avenue by city hall.

With just a couple of members on there at any one time, Adams noted everyone is pretty respectful.

As for why Adams was hired, Sparks answered simply noting that she scored the highest of the applicants who applied for the position through a process that involves an interview and considering their background.

"I would like to congratulate Kiara on her hard work and dedication and welcome her to the team,” Sparks said in a statement by the city announcing Adams' hiring.

"While we have had a number of female volunteer firefighters, this is the first time one of those volunteers has completed the process required to become a full-time member of the fire department.”

Mayor Dan Curtis also issued his congratulations to Adams, noting in a statement: "After years of promoting equal opportunity for men, women and persons of ethnic diversity, the city is pleased to see the hiring of its first female firefighter.

"We have long awaited a candidate to come forward to help us meet our goals of gender diversity in all our departments, and we are pleased that such a person has come forward.”

Right now, Adams is filling in for a staffer who works a Monday-to-Friday day shift.

Enjoying shift work, however, she'd like to get on the shift most members are on.

That involves day shifts that are 10 hours long, night shifts of 14 hours with a series of days off, averaging out to 42 hours per week.

Down the road, she'd also like to be more involved in training, having done some of that with rural departments during her time with the Mt. Lorne crew.