Women go from strength to strength in fire ranks

Over the course of her career, Jacki Hayward has seen women go from being a few in the room to strongly represented at all levels of fire and emergency management.

As a Forest Fire Management Officer, Emergency Preparedness, Jacki’s day-to-day work in the Far South West district involves lots of forward planning and tasks like managing resource requests, filling out district taskforces to send support to other regions and preparing standby rosters.

It makes sense that her emergency role as a Resource Officer – a role she found after other periods in the Incident Management Team as a Comms Planner, Management Support, Radio Operator – fits like a glove.

The opportunity to make a tangible impact during critical moments was what drew Jacki to emergency preparedness.

‘Emergency preparedness requires thinking ahead, being adaptable, and working with a team that shares the same commitment,’ Jacki said.

‘The fast paced, dynamic nature, combined with strategic planning, appealed to me; and what I still love today about it is the challenge and constant opportunity to learn.’

With a career spanning almost 27 years, Jacki has seen a huge and positive shift in the representation of women working in emergency management.

She said early in her career, there were environments where women were underrepresented and it wasn’t always easy to find a strong support network.

‘Today it’s so great to see so much more inclusivity and recognition of the value women bring to the table,’ Jacki said.

‘It’s extremely inspiring to see the culture shift towards greater diversity and seeing more women stepping into leadership roles.’

Having seen such positive progress over the years, Jacki believes everyone has a role to play in creating an inclusive workplace.

‘For me, it’s about continuously evolving and embracing new ideas, encouraging more diverse voices and perspectives from all genders.’

Jacki’s advice to other women is to embrace challenges and trust your abilities.

‘I often find that the smaller voices are the listeners, taking everything in that have the most to offer or different approaches to situations,’ she said.

‘Never underestimate what you can accomplish.’