Brooke Wooten

I honestly attribute a lot of my success to softball. It may sound corny, but the sport taught me so many of the skills I use in life every day — time management, leadership, discipline, and how to handle multiple responsibilities at once.

A big part of my drive comes from the mindset softball gave me at a young age, especially playing at the college level. It taught me not to quit when I fail at something the first time. In this job, especially because it’s such a physical and demanding field, that mentality has carried over completely. If I’m not good at something right away, I keep working at it over and over until I get it right. Softball taught me resilience, accountability, and the determination to keep pushing until I succeed.

The best career advice I’ve ever received came from my dad, who’s a police officer. He always told me, “Keep your head down, work hard, and take care of the people beside you, because one day they’ll be the ones taking care of you.” 

That advice has stuck with me throughout my career, especially in emergency services. This job is built on trust, teamwork, and showing up for one another no matter what. You can be the smartest or strongest person in the room, but if you’re not willing to help your team and earn their respect, none of it matters. 

In this field, your coworkers become like family. I spend more time with them than I do with my own husband some weeks, so building those relationships and being someone people can rely on is incredibly important to me. My dad taught me that success isn’t just about individual accomplishments — it’s about being dependable, staying humble, and always having your team’s back.

Be proud of who you are and don’t be afraid to take up space. One thing I hear a lot from women coming into the field is that they feel timid or intimidated walking into what they think is still a male-dominated field. But the reality is, women are proving every day that we belong here just as much as anyone else — not only in the fire service, but across every industry.

My advice is to stop limiting yourself before you even begin. Don’t put yourself into a box because you’re a woman. Speak up, get involved, and challenge yourself to do the same things everyone else is doing. If the guys can do it, you are fully capable of doing it too. Confidence goes a long way in this career, and sometimes the biggest thing holding people back is doubting themselves before they’ve even given themselves a chance.

Take up space, be seen, work hard, and trust that you earned your seat at the table.

I think one of the biggest opportunities for me is the fact that our department is growing so rapidly. With that growth comes a lot of opportunity to grow alongside it — both professionally and personally. My long-term goal is to eventually become a captain and continue moving up in leadership over time. I know that comes with years of experience, continued learning, and proving myself, but having the ability to build a career within a department that’s expanding and evolving is something that really motivates me.

One of the biggest challenges in this field is learning how to balance confidence with composure in high-pressure situations. Every call is different, and people rely on us to stay calm, think clearly, and make good decisions no matter the circumstances. That’s something that takes experience, mental toughness, and constant growth, and it’s a challenge that pushes me to become better every day.

Integrity is one of the biggest values you can have in this job. We’re trusted to walk into people’s homes, care for their children, protect their belongings, and help them on some of the worst days of their lives. That level of trust means you have to hold yourself accountable at all times — not only for yourself, but for your crew as well. People need to know they can trust you, both as a firefighter and as a person.

To me, integrity also carries over into everyday life outside of work. It’s about doing the right thing even when nobody is watching. Something as small as picking up a piece of trash off the ground may not seem important, especially if you weren’t the one who put it there, but small actions say a lot about a person’s character. You can either walk past it or take a few seconds to make things a little better. I think integrity is built through those small choices every day, and those small actions can end up making a bigger difference than people realize.