Georgina Gilbert | Wales, UK
“Just challenge yourself! You’ll not only amaze yourself but others too.”
Firefighter Georgina Gilbert
Firefighter Georgina Gilbert is a force of nature and an inspiration - a person who believes in saying “Yes!” to the challenges that life offers.
Firefighter Gilbert (George) has been with the fire service for the last 20 years. She is currently serving with the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. For her outstanding work, she has recently been nominated as ‘Most Influential LGBTQ and individual in the Fire Service’. In addition, she is the head spokesperson for the campaign ‘HeForShe’ which works to promote gender equality for all persons.
What initially inspired you to join the fire service?
George always wanted a job where she could do the same things that the boys were doing. Her father was in the merchant navy, providing her a first role model for excellence in a uniform service. But it was the 90s, and neither the navy, nor the army, nor the police force provided the same opportunities for women as they did for men. When she was 19 years old, George met a woman who had applied to join the fire service, and that first seed was planted. Here was a job where the men and woman did exactly the same thing! And George thought, “This is the job for me, without a shadow of a doubt!”
When George joined the fire service part time at the age of 24, she was the first female to work at that station. By the time she joined full time at the age of 26, there were five women out of the 1500 firefighters, making the women virtually invisible. But George was up for the challenge, determined to succeed and excel.
What message would you like to share with others in the fire service?
Firefighter Georgina Gilbert is an advocate for women. She encourages them to pursue the careers that excite them, believing that they can achieve their greatest dreams. For those that choose to serve in the firefighting profession, she tells them to set themselves up to succeed, and she gives them these pointers:
Gilbert prepping for her ski to the South Pole with the Antarctic Fire Angels. The journey will begin in November 2023.
Work hard to be fit and strong. Simple biology dictates gender differences: woman need to work harder than men to be physically able. So be an above-average woman!
Learn from firefighters, both female and male. Talk to those who are new to the job and to those who have years of experience.
Learn to say: “Yes, absolutely. I’ll do it!”
Enjoy the journey.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
George loves running. During the winter, she participates in Canicross, a sport that involves cross-country races with her dog. During the hot and rainy seasons, she runs on her own, finding enjoyment exploring the trails and running through nature. “Running is my elixir,” she explains.
She has ridden horses since the age of four and she has recently taken up river rowing, competing in marathons, sleeping outside under the Northern skies.
In November, George will be changing the narrative of what it means to be a girl. She will be setting out on an expedition to the South Pole.
“When the idea came to cross Antarctica, unsupported, one of the most inhospitable places on earth, this was my opportunity to prove that you can be a woman AND do something that is utterly out of your comfort zone.”
She is co-founder of the Antarctic Fire Angels as well as Team Leader of WAFA (Wales Antarctic Fire Angels). WAFA is dedicated to inspiring others to achieve their ambitions, especially women and girls. George and her team will be skiing 1,130 km from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole in November 2023. This journey will be unassisted and unsupported, marking the World’s First such journey achieved by an Emergency Services. See link for more details.
What changes do you foresee in the fire service in the next five years?
Over the last five years, George has seen positive changes occur within her own firehouse. She has witnessed an increase in woman firefighters, a shifting balance between the genders because of what she calls “positive discrimination.” Georgina believes that, in the future, more attention will be devoted to “setting people up to succeed” as a way of moving forward. This means providing people with relevant information and tools, encouraging them to make their own decisions, and then reaping the benefits of the resulting motivation and hard work.
George believes that the fire service will continue to be humanitarian, intimately involved with its community and its safety. In the future, she sees that firefighter education will be emphasized, focusing on the areas of safety and biosafety, on prevention, on the way that materials are made, and on the application of new knowledge to skill training. She encourages the continuing development of excellence in the profession.
Can you share a story to cap off this article?
George shares a funny story with us, an incident that happened when she was in a different service in Midwest Wales. It was summer, she was at the seafront, and she was called to the toilet area.
“This was probably the most left field, ludicrous call I've ever been to. When this very unfortunate young lady was standing on the toilet pan, she slipped, and her foot got stuck down the toilet. So, there she was. We tried to sort of adjust her, help her to relax, and we tried to pull her foot out.
By this time, we had spent several hours trying to get it out of the system without flooding the place. The metal on the toilet was such that if we started to cut it, it would also bend and warp at the same time. So, we ended up having to unplug it from the wall, taking the entire toilet out with her foot still in it. Then, we had to put that whole thing on the stretcher with her. I mean, this shiny toilet was attached to her foot! I gave her my tunic to cover her face and another tunic to throw over the toilet pan as well; there must have been 200 people outside the toilets, waiting for the girl to emerge. So off we went.
At this point, she's lying down on the bed in the ambulance, and she's in a fair amount of pain because her foot and her ankles have started to swell. A couple of us have gone with her in the ambulance to steady the toilet, to stop it from falling off the trolley. Yeah, bless her. She was absolutely mortified. I mean, we're talking about a 13-year-old girl. It's the height of her public image. You know, I'm really thankful that, at that stage, social media did not exist, not even Facebook, otherwise it would have been a very, very different story.
So, we went to hospital, they sedated her a little bit, and came out with this five-liter tub of lube. They poured it all down into the pan. Of course, she relaxed, and her foot just literally slid out. The hospital staff then presented us with the toilet like it was a baby - they came out of the double doors and announced proudly, “It's a toilet!”
It is easy to be impressed by Firefighter Georgina Gilbert. She encourages us to grab the opportunities that life provides us, and to strive to be the very best that we can be.