The following article is from the November 29, 2009 issue of the Courier Post, the original content can be found on their web site. It was written by Jeremy Rosen of the Courier Post Staff.

Firefighting was a childhood dream of Jamie Holden's that she pursued as soon as possible when she turned 16 in 2003.

But it was a job that Kathy Hasenmayer never planned for when she took it the previous year.

Now the two volunteers in Medford's fire and EMS departments are best friends and share a special bond as female firefighters in a county with the most in the state.

Holden and Hasenmayer are among a state-leading 182 female firefighters in Burlington County, according to a state report released this month. The county has 70 more female firefighters than the second-most Morris County and 38 more than Camden and Gloucester counties combined.

The number of female firefighters who graduate each year from fire academies in Burlington County has about tripled over the past dozen years, according to a county fire official.

David Gsell, assistant county fire marshal and director of training, and town fire officials said local junior programs are the driving force attracting female firefighters, most of whom are volunteers.

"Burlington County fire companies and departments are more diverse and open to different backgrounds," Gsell said. "Our towns' explorer programs through high schools have activities to get them involved at younger ages."

Holden and Hasenmayer, two of five women in Medford's fire department, are products of such programs and have served hundreds of fire calls.

The 23-year-old Shawnee High School graduates said they were accepted and mentored by the tenured men in the department when they joined as juniors.

However, both said that as women they had something extra to prove.

"I felt like I had to prove I was there for the right reasons and willing to do it and willing to get dirty," said Hasenmayer, a county-employed special education teacher. "Once they saw it, it was OK."

"I didn't have to prove myself more as female to the fire department, but I did to some people outside the department who were skeptical" of my abilities, said Holden, a nursing student who is an EMT for a private company.

Holden said she pushes the possibility of volunteering to her friends but that so far she has convinced only her 21-year-old brother, Scott, to join.

Holden, who met her fiance Matthew Bricker, 22, in the department, said she sees herself volunteering for a while because of the "wonderful people."

"It really attracts great people and we're like family. It's a lot of fun," she said. "I'm not going anywhere."

Hasenmayer, who was recommended to join the town's junior program by a friend, plans to keep fighting fires for the near future.

"It's just one of those things that once you start, the adrenaline of it takes over and it's a fun thing to do," she said. "It's not really a thing most women are into, but the females have a really, really strong bond."

Evesham women, including two volunteer and one career firefighter, make up about 13 percent of the town's 150 fire and EMS professionals.

Township fire chief Ted Lowden attributes that to a cultural change in America and an opening of fire service. The town's chief of 21 years said female involvement continues to grow with more joining the department's youth program.

"More and more females are interested in it and can now pursue it," said the chief of 21 years. "It used to be male-dominated and now females are aware they're accepted and there are spots."