Meet the woman who’s out to convince others to consider Fire Rescue careers

Kyle Blakeslee wants you to be part of Sioux Falls Fire Rescue.

She’s passionate about the work she does and serving others, and she’s hoping to encourage more women to apply to the fire department.

For Blakeslee, 34, the route to becoming a firefighter was a bit all over the place and a bit like the obvious answer to “what do you want to be when you grow up?”

A good friend who was a fire captain encouraged her, her uncle was a firefighter in Wisconsin, and her cousin married a firefighter.

“I just kind of grew up around it,” Blakeslee said. “They all encouraged me to apply. I’m just someone who can’t sit at a desk. The fire department was a really good option for me.”

For the past year, Blakeslee has been a fire and life safety educator, which allows her to plan classes and educational events for the public while also keeping up her training for the department.

“I’m very active and pretty athletic, and just the intensity and physicality of the fire department drew me in. I also have a heart for service, and interacting with the public is great,” Blakeslee said.

In any given week, she’s leading everything from puppet shows on fire safety for kindergartners to a fire safety house for third graders to virtual lessons for other students.

Organizations also ask her to come speak about fire safety – think senior-living residents or speaking to blind community members about fire safety.

“Anyone who is interested in fire safety or how to live safely in their home, I’m the girl for that,” Blakeslee said. “I’ll work with babysitter classes on how to do safe cooking or why it’s important to be fire conscious if you’re babysitting.”

Early years

Blakeslee grew up in Cannon Falls, Minneosta, and went to college at Augustana University, where she ran track and cross-country. She graduated with a degree in American Sign Language and interpreting. She did that for a few years and moved around a bit and then came back to Sioux Falls, applied for the fire department and joined in 2019.

Her first year on the job, there was a large event for the Deaf and hard of hearing community, and she was part of that, educating people on smoke alarms that shake your bed when they go off.

“Then through the last few years, I’ve just run into people from the Deaf community who have had questions, and it’s been so helpful for me to be there, and I can interact with the Deaf and hard of hearing community,” Blakeslee said.

Through events like that and other parts of her job, she has found another calling: trying to bring more women into the fire department. Earlier this month, she held the Ignite Academy, a weekend event to introduce women to careers in the fire department and as first responders.

“There aren’t a lot of us in the fire service – nationally, it’s around 4 percent,” Blakeslee said. In Sioux Falls, out of 215 uniformed personnel, only eight are women, she said. “There are women who work in the fire department in other capacities. But we think there’s a need for more female first responders. We have all found with our own experience, sometimes calls go a little more smoothly if there’s a female involved.”

She said female first responders can add a level of comfort.

“We think there is a place for women in the fire service and the police departments and EMS,” Blakeslee said. “We’ve had a lot of positive impact in our community as female firefighters.”

Ignite Academy

Ignite Academy is designed for women age 16 to 43 as the cutoff age for applying to Sioux Falls Fire Rescue is 44.

At age 16, she thought teenage girls were considering their careers – so why not interest them early, Blakeslee said.

“They can join as an EMT or a volunteer fire department and make their way to us,” she said, noting applicants must be 21 for Sioux Falls Fire Rescue.

Sixteen women took part in the weekend event held last month.

“It was a very manageable number, and they got one-on-one time and could go through the drills and hands-on activities,” she said.

They had lessons in personal protective equipment and a fire behavioral lesson with a dollhouse.

“I built a dollhouse, and then we burned it up,” Blakeslee said. “We taught them what happens when a window is open or a door is open, and how the smoke will change with the different levels of oxygen in the house.”

They also were able to see a staged car fire, which is a common call for firefighters. And learn how to use a fire extinguisher and how to force entry through a door.

They also exercised together every day and talked about the importance of making a positive community impact.

“If you want to be a firefighter, you have to love helping people. That’s what we do 24/7,” Blakeslee said.

She said it helped to show the participants different parts of the job.

“They were like, we didn’t know you did all this. It’s so much more than just firefighting,” Blakeslee said. “You have to be a jack-of-all-trades. When people don’t know what to do, they call the fire department, and we have to figure it out.”

Blakeslee takes it as a compliment that people think of the fire department.

“They trust us to fix what’s happening,” she said. “And we try our best to do whatever we can to make their day better. That’s what we signed up to do, and we’re happy to do it.”

As Blakeslee has grown in her career, she also has seen the toll firefighting can take on someone’s mental health. With that in mind, she applied for and was accepted to run in The 437 Project, a run across South Dakota to raise awareness on mental health.

“Staying on top of my own mental health and encouraging my co-workers to stay on top of theirs is a passion – just because of the types of calls we go on,” she said. “We are experiencing people’s traumas every day, and it might not affect us that day, but it could years down the road. I hope my small part in The 437 Project will encourage first responders and their loved ones to check up on each other.”

Joining SFFR

Blakeslee said joining the department was one of the best decisions she has ever made, though she acknowledges it can be a challenging job.

She said people find their way to the fire department in all kinds of ways. Some, like her, go to college and then decide to switch careers. Others tested for the fire department and didn’t pass so did something else while they kept trying. It’s not uncommon to have to retake the entry test, she said.

“We have graphic designers who became firefighters. Teachers. Nurses. Carpenters. It doesn’t matter what your background or experience level is,” Blakeslee said. “As long as you pass the exams and the interviews.”

Testing is done yearly and is open from April 28 through May 21. You can sign up here.

“You can test as many times as you want,” she said. “For many people, it takes more than one try. But that shouldn’t be discouraging to people.”

She hopes more women will consider taking the test.

“You have to be able and willing to work really hard. It’s a dynamic job, and things are changing all the time. You have to be able to adapt and overcome,” Blakeslee said. “But if you have a heart for service and you’re willing to put yourself in harm’s way for the betterment of someone else, this could be for you.”