Area women answer the call at the Belden Fire Department

BELDEN — When Belden Rural Fire Chief Jerry Gross sees somebody new move to town, he doesn’t hesitate.

In a small town of less than 150 people, you need as many bodies as you can find to make a smalltown fire department successful, so anybody is a candidate to join the small town’s volunteer fire department.

Among the newest members of the department are three women, who join two long-standing female firefighters on the 20-member department.

And Gross is only too happy to have them as part of the team.

“They’re go-getters let me tell you,” he said. “They’re one of the first ones to get up and do it. If that whistle blows or the pager goes off, they are willing to go out and do everything a man does.”

Denise Roth, a retired flight attendant and a certified California correctional officer, is the rookie of the three women to join the Belden fire team. She and her husband, Todd, who is also a member of the BRFD, recently moved to the area, and she thought it would be a good idea to join.

“I just think it’s a good way to give back and it’s the right thing to do, especially these days,” she said.

While she has yet to go out on a call, she’s already got some experience driving one of the department’s trucks and is getting used to putting on the heavy equipment required to fight fires.

“Those boots are heavy on their own, and then there are the suspenders and the pants and the coat,” she said. “It’s pretty heavy and I just turned 60, but if they need me I’m there. I even told the chief I could cook when we have meetings.”

Megan Arehart, who works as a CNA, med aide and restorative aide at Hillcrest Care Center, Laurel, said her dad was a firefighter when she grew up in Meadow Grove and the 29-year-old thought it would be a great opportunity to help others.

“It’s very exciting getting the opportunity to save someone who needs help,” she said.

Claire Wiegert is the youngest of the three. The 21-year-old Wausa native works as a drug technician at the probation office in Norfolk and she joined her fiancee, Jake Bach, as members of the department in the summer of 2019.

“When my fiancee and I moved here, we wanted to be involved in the community and Jerry asked us to check it out,” she said. “Jake was interested and I didn’t want him doing anything cool without me, so I joined and it’s a fun, unique experience.”

The three are joined by longtime members Jane Pospisil, who owns the Down Home Bar & Grill just a block away from the fire department; and Janice Wobbehorst, who has been part of the fire department for 15 years and is also the town’s mayor.

Both Pospisil and Wobbenhorst brought plenty of life experience to the department when they both joined more than a decade ago.

Pospisil, the first active woman on the department, was a truck driver and Wobbenhorst spent her career as a National Park Ranger, fighting fires and serving as a paramedic in stops that included Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, the Grand Canyon, Guadalupe National Park and even the Statue of Liberty in New York City.

“I grew up in Belden and was in the last class to graduate from Belden High School,” the member of the BHS Class of 1966 said, noting she returned home years ago to help out her parents.

Having the three younger ladies on the fire department has been a welcome addition.

“It’s nice,” Pospisil said. “They’re young and energetic and want to help.”

“Their enthusiasm is helpful and we need all the help we can get in a small town like Belden,” Wobbenhorst added.

Gross said the newest additions to the 20-member fire department have been training to help out wherever they can when the call comes, and he’s excited to have them on board.

“They have to be trained and a few are still in the process of learning stuff, but you give them a job to do and everybody jumps in and gives them a hand,” he said. “A lot of times they’re driving trucks, running pumps, directing traffic. It doesn’t matter what it is, they’ll do it.”

And the newbies enjoy being part of a department that traditionally has been maledominated.

“It’s a respectful relationship,” Wiegert said. “They treat you like a lady but they treat you like a team member so when it’s go time there’s no question as to whether she can do it. Gender doesn’t enter into the equation.”

“It’s different and very empowering to see other females getting out there and doing it,” Arehart added. “I’m glad I’m not the only one. The first thing I said was to treat me like one of the guys and they do and I respect them for it.”

Gross said the department answers about 20 calls a year in their district, and they also have mutual aid relationships with fire departments in Laurel, Randolph, Carroll and Coleridge. Having such a diverse roster helps them get the job done.

“We’re such a small town that everybody wants to step up and help,” he said.

It’s that teamwork and sense of camaraderie, no matter the gender, that makes Belden’s firefighters a unique group.

“It takes a team and we all can fill a role and pitch in where we can help and that makes a team work better,” Wobbenhorst said.

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