Special Publications - Living Here - Living Here_People

POSTED: Sunday, Mar. 30, 2008

Leslie Pederson, assistant chief, Whatcom County Fire District 4

Name: Leslie Pederson.

Age: 46.

Job: Assistant chief, Whatcom County Fire District 4.

Background: Firefighter 1 and 2, Fire Officer 1, Fire Service Instructor Level 2, Hazardous Material Technician, Incident Safety Officer, EMT, Exterior Firefighter 1 and 2, Training Coordinator.

How long: 19 years as a volunteer, four years as a paid firefighter.

Most frequent question: "How does a woman become a firefighter?"

Most important question: "How do you deal with the tragedy that you see and the things you have to do sometimes?"

Tip: "What really sticks in my mind is to always wear your seat belt. We recently responded to two fatality accidents in which the people who died were not wearing their seat belts, yet the people that were wearing them walked away."