LEHIGH COUNTY, Pa. — Zoe Moyer is one of the newest members of the Slatington Volunteer Fire Department.
She, along with Krystall Borman, make up two of the station's 9 female members.
"Seeing more women come in is fantastic because you don't see that everywhere, so you are able to bond with them a little more and share your expertise and how you do things a little differently and help them succeed," said Krystall Borman, Firefighter/Safety Officer with the Slatington Volunteer Fire Department.
Borman joined her first fire department when she was 17 after meeting her future husband.
"He would leave and go on calls and things like that, and I kind of felt left out, so I wanted to go with him, so I joined the fire department with him and have fallen in love with the department ever since," said Krystall.
Two years ago, Krystall joined Station 24, fitting in right away, "Whether or not you were male or female, rolls of the saying, you have to be able to do the role equally," she said.
"Whatever you're comfortable with. If you are comfortable with going inside a burning building and pulling people out, great. If you wanna drive a truck like this, great. Whatever capacity they want to help us out with, we will take them," said Department Lieutenant Kevin Borman, Slatington Volunteer Fire Department.
Krystall's husband and Department Lieutenant Kevin Borman says their station's unique staff has to do with strong volunteer recruitment, "Volunteer departments are dwindling, numbers are dwindling, we've been very lucky and very fortunate this year to get a big influx of new members."
With six of this year's 20 recruits being women, the husband and wife say anyone who wants to help their community can, "Everybody gets their hands dirty, everyone comes out here, put ladders up, pull hoses do the whole nine yards and clean it all up when it's done," said Kevin.
"I have two children, and they consider a lot of these members aunts and uncles. It's a big deal," said Krystall.