Sajoune Rose, Gleaner Writer

Left: Mrs. Campbell-Brown enjoys a light moment in her office at the York Park Fire Station. Right: Firewoman Claudette Campbell-Brown receives her certificate of participation from James Harmon, acting mission director of USAID Jamaica at the USAID Incident Command System Training closing ceremony at the Medallion Hall Hotel in June.

Outside the York Park Fire Station in Kingston, there is a buzz of activity. Firemen are all around, but from the mass of men emerges a woman with long strides, square shoulders, complemented by a very confident smile. Meet District Officer Claudette Campbell-Brown, a 'woman in charge'.

She heads to her office. It's a crammed space, just perfect for one person. The breeze from a fan in a corner ruffles her hair. She glances down at her desk. It is almost completely covered with folders containing documents. Officer Brown appears shy, but this facade soon disappears as she becomes used to the apparent stranger who had just invaded her office.

Decked in her familiar navy blue uniform with a red lanyard running across her left shoulder, she sits alert, ready to answer every question that comes at her. Serving the Jamaica Fire Service for more than 29 years, first in the capacity of a stenotypist from 1978 to 1990 and as a firefighter for the past 17 years, Mrs. Brown loves her job. Her pride is evident. Her body language speaks.

Wanted to be a midwife

Did this self-proclaimed humble, conservative, 'nonsensical', and most of all, God-fearing woman, really want to enter the 'man's world' of firefighting? Strangely enough, it was never her intention to join the Jamaica Fire Brigade. "No, no, no, no. I used to do pre-trained teaching but I wanted to be, not a teacher, but a nurse. I was obsessed with nursing. I loved nursing. I especially wanted to do midwifery," she says as she reclines in her chair.

She went as far as doing the required test at the Kingston School of Nursing, but an unplanned pregnancy put that dream on hold. However, firefighting eventually took a permanent hold andbecame a blessing in disguise for Officer Brown.

After serving in the capacity of stenotypist for 12 years, being in the enclosed office was no longer a joy for her and six of her female colleagues then. "We saw the office as being too confining, so we wanted to explore," she told The Gleaner.

Negative reactions

It was then, that she decided that she wanted to be on the operational side of the fire service. However, the firefighters then were mainly men. "There weren't plenty female firefighters in those days. Female firefighters were only confined to office duties, so I wanted to see female firefighters taking on the role of becoming involved in the operational aspect of fighting," says the persistent officer.

She would first have to bypass the negative reactions from some colleagues of the opposite sex. "Yes, our male counterparts, they were not accustomed to seeing female fighters going out there on the trucks, getting into operation and holding the hose," she says as she clasps her hands together and rests them on the table.

Officer Brown says their stereotypical view of women comes into play when it relates to work. "They see their female fighters receiving fire calls, dispatching units but seeing us do the actual thing (fighting fire), they would want to discourage you, saying you won't be able to manage as a female."

Now, many years later, Mrs. Campbell-Brown is a 'turnout officer'. That is, she is the 'woman in charge' of a response crew when they go to the scene of a fire.

Being in this position, she is highly respected by her peers, as well as the officers under her command. Sergeant Floyd Richards, an officer on her turnout team, admires her. He says Officer Brown is just as strong, just as alert as any man and most importantly, "she knows what she is about". He could not leave without mentioning that she is very disciplined and stands up for what she believes in.

Assistant Superintendent John Morais, who has been working with Mrs. Campbell-Brown for the past 20years, describes her as an active and well-disciplined woman who takes her job seriously.

Tomboy

Firefighter Claudette Campbell-Brown poses on one of the trucks at the York Park Fire Station. - photos by Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Her family equally respects her and the role she has assumed in the fire service for the last 29 years. "There is no objection. They like it," she says, noting that she grew up as a sort of tomboy.

This is because she was 'sandwiched' by two brothers. This mother of six, one girl and five boys, hails from the small but closely knit community of Tweedside in Clarendon, where "everybody knew everybody and cared for each other". Her mother, a 'strict dressmaker', ensured that she only went to church and school then back home. It was no surprise when she declared "she was the man of the house. It was like anything she says goes". On the contrary, her father, who was a farmer, "never let anything bother him. He was a humble man of a quiet disposition," she says, her eyes wandering as she remembers the days gone by.

Now a resident of Portmore, St. Catherine, Mrs. Campbell-Brown has been married to dear husband, Linden for the past 24 years. She is a devout Christian who has been attending the Power of Faith Ministries since 1994, where she sings on the choir.

Outside of church activities and a few visits to the movie theatre, Officer Brown's sparse leisure time is spent with one of her granddaughters and the rest is devoted to taking care of her garden. "I do my own planting, pruning and I take good care of my plants," she says as she elaborates on her pride and joy. She says that time does not allow her to do other things because she works from Sunday to Sunday. "Really, where do you get the time to have fun?" she questions.

No close calls

Mrs. Campbell-Brown is definitely a woman in charge. In May of this year, she was again the "sheep among the goat"when she participated in a training programme where she was the only woman out of a group of 30 participants from different government and non-governmental agencies.

During her 17 years on the road as a firefighter, Officer Brown says she has never had a close call with death while fighting fires. However, she remembers the death of 26-year-old Corporal Lambert Blackwood in the famous Carib Theatre fire in Kingston in 1996. Also seeing the charred remains of a man at a fire at the Petrojam refinery is another incident that Officer Brown will never forget.

At the same time, Mrs. Campbell-Brown laments the high crime rate in the country. She sees this as the most pressing problem affecting Jamaica. She says that employment of the youth could go a far way in solving this problem.

Family is very important to her. Her relatively large family is her support. As such, she says that there is one thing that her children could do to embarrass her. "Having a gun and holding up someone is enough. I wouldn't even go to the matter of killing, just to hold up someone," she says.