Amanda Sloan Munsey

I first became interested in becoming a firefighter when I was very young. A friend showed me pictures from his time in the Fire Academy, and I was drawn to the idea of helping people and having no two days look the same - I didn't want to be stuck in an office. I started by becoming an EMT after working as a lifeguard at a water park, where I interfaced with fire departments and EMTs during transports. I really enjoyed the camaraderie and the people I worked with in both EMS and the fire department, and that's what made me decide this was the career for me. I started in the fire service in 2004, took a couple of years off to work in the private sector, then returned to it. Since 2020, I've been in my current role as a Battalion Chief and Public Information Officer. In my day-to-day work, I handle administrative duties, emergency management, and crisis communications - I don't run calls in the field anymore like I did in my younger days. I also serve on a federal interagency incident management team based out of California, deploying to large-scale emergency incidents when my team is up on rotation. As a Type 1 PIO, the highest qualification level, I oversee media operations and train other public information officers during major incidents like the Palisades fire, where I managed the media branch and acted as training officer for over a hundred personnel.