Sarah Reasoner, Martha Fecht and Megan Roesler Turner have very different backgrounds and came to consider careers as St. Paul firefighters in very different ways.
Reasoner was a track and field All-American and onetime bodybuilder and powerlifter who wanted a career with a deeper purpose. Fecht, a St. Paul fire captain, went to Montana for a vacation and became a paramedic there. A Maplewood native, she leapt at the chance to return. And Roessler Turner was inspired to become a paramedic by the firefighters who revived a heart attack victim in the coffee shop where she worked. She is now a trainer at the academy.
All three survived the gantlet of training — men and women must meet the same physical requirements. But they know that many women get discouraged from trying.