First female firefighter set to retire
Lt. Anne Mckendry broke ground during 33-year career
Longmont Fire Lt. Anne Mckendr y didn’t set out to break barriers, she just wanted to be a firefighter, those who know her say.
Mckendr y, who was the first woman to be hired as a Longmont firefighter in 1988, is planning to retire at the end of the month. In doing so, the 59-year-old will leave behind a legacy for advancing the department’s life support response as one of the first to be trained in paramedicine and blazing a trail for anyone who dreams of becoming a firefighter.
After 33 years of ser vice, Mckendr y said it felt like the right time to retire.
“I want to be able to have time to learn new things, stay healthy and tr y to get some sleep and just enjoy life,” Mckendr y said. “I see how short it is every day.”
Longmont Acting Public Safety Chief Rob Spendlow said he will miss Mckendr y’s dedication, professionalism and happy demeanor, as well as her ability to ser ve as a leader.
Spendlow has known Mckendr y for more than 30 years. Both were in the same hiring class and went through the fire academy together.
“In working with her and being in the academy hiring class, I don’t ever remember having a conversation … that she was setting out to change anything; she just wanted to be a firefighter,” Mckendr y said. “It wasn’t her intent, but I think she significantly changed the oppor tunities for folks that followed her.”
Giving it a shot
Mckendr y grew up in Ar vada, the second-oldest of four children, and the only daughter.
She earned a degree in physical education at Metro State University, but said through student teaching she realized she didn’t want to teach gym classes.
“It was really frustrating, because I didn’t have time to teach,” Mckendr y said. “By the time you took roll and made sure ever ybody had their tennis shoes on, you only had a little bit of time.”
When Mckendry saw an adver tisement for Longmont’s fire department that encouraged women to apply, she decided to give it a shot. She said she was the first woman to pass the depar tment’s agility test.
“That’s how I got an inter view, because that was one of the first tests you took,” she said. “From there you took a written test and all the other tests that followed.”
Being a firefighter was a chance to learn something new every day, Mckendry said. As the first woman on the team, Mckendry said she knew she was up for some challenges.
“I needed to show I was worthy of being there,” Mckendry said. “With the mutual respect — me showing respect for them and them showing respect for me — it worked out pretty well.”
In those early days, MCKendr y recalled moments where she realized just how much she had to learn. When she had to be fitted for bunker gear, a firefighter’s coat and pants, she said she didn’t know what bunker gear was. During her first call for a minor traf fic crash, MCKendr y said she was incredibly ner vous.
“I remember going on that call and thinking, ‘I have so much to learn,'” Mckendr y said. “I feel lucky that the people I worked with were so helpful.”
She wasted no time honing the skills for the job.
Mckendry went to paramedic school in 1994, learning how to deliver lifesaving care. By 1999, after 11 years of ser vice, MCKendr y became a lieutenant. Her knowledge as a paramedic prepared her for the role, because she said it taught her how to be a leader in high-pressure situations.
Today, she ser ves on the hazmat team and is a member of the Public Safety Depar tment’s peer suppor t team, a group of public safety employees trained to provide day-to-day emotional suppor t and par ticipate in the depar tment’s response to critical incidents.
As a lieutenant, she advocates for her team’s physical and mental health.
“The career is such a blessing, yet at the same time it takes a toll,” MCKendr y said. “All the things you see over time take their toll on firefighters. I think it’s good we have a peer suppor t team now.”
Leading the way
The Longmont Fire Department now has 11 women who are firefighters on staff, which includes Capt. Michele Goldman, who is the department’ s fire marshal. The city has 95 fire staff total.
When asked if Mckendr y felt like she helped to blaze a path for other women to become firefighters in Longmont, Mckendr y said “in some ways.”
“I feel lucky to be part of the Longmont Fire Department,” Mckendr y said. “The women we do have… they are leaders in so many ways. It’s really impressive and neat to watch.” Goldman, who has worked for the city for 20 years, described Mckendr y as “level-headed and fair, with high expectations for everybody around her.”
“Ever ybody that Longmont fire hires, whether it be male or female, owes Anne Mckendr y a great nod,” Goldman said. “She really set the stage for equity.”
Goldman said Mckendr y showed that any person should be able to prove themselves through character and performance quality.
Mckendr y was also among a hiring class that was par t of the city’s advancement of its life support component of the fire depar tment.
“I think Anne played a ver y significant role, one in breaking that barrier — being the first female and also throughout her career with the paramedicine and advanced life support aspect of our fire-based EMS systems we have now,” Spendlow said. Spendlow said Mckendr y’s compassion and empathy for how she delivered medicine had a contagious effect on the rest of the organization and how they delivered care.
Looking back
In her 33-year tenure with the depar tment, MCKendr y has fought fires, rescued people from the ice and aided people at car crashes.
She recalled a few of the calls that stick out in her mind, one being a call in 1995 when someone knocked on the Fire Station 2 door, of f Mountain View Avenue and Hover Street, to say there was a barn burning just next door.
“You could throw a rock to it,” Mckendr y said. “To get to the fire hydrant we had to drive around the block. It was such a shock, because it wasn’t a tone alerting us to the fire, it was just somebody knocking on the door.”
Another time, she said the fire department was called to rescue some iguanas that had been stranded in a tree. Mckendr y also recalled one false alarm when a person reported seeing drifting smoke. The fire department discovered it was in fact mist from a person who had been blowing out their sprinklers
“It’s so vast,” Mckendr y said. “There’s so much to learn and remember. I think I could study every day, and I would never learn everything about what you could learn as a firefighter.”
Mckendr y said she’s most proud of the relationships she built with her team in the years she’s been a firefighter.
“There’s so many good people that work for the fire department,” Mckendr y said. “You get to know them well because we live (at the station) for 48 hours a week.”
One of the toughest parts of the job, she said, is the unknown that comes with each day and being prepared to respond to a call at any moment — whether in the shower, sleeping or just sitting down for a meal. Recouping lost sleep after 33 years of this is something Mckendr y said she’s looking for ward to.
Mckendr y’s last day with the depar tment is April 30. During her free time, she said, she plans on spending time with family, golfing and tinkering with her house. Reflecting on a storied career, she said she feels proud to be part of Longmont Fire Department’s team.
“They’re like your second family,” Mckendr y said. “It’s such a great profession. I feel so lucky.”