When The Smoke Clears
What happens to a firefighter after they've spent decades running into burning buildings and rescuing people from sickness, injury and death? When they walk away from the job, how have they changed? What lessons have they learned? What type of person have they become?
When The Smoke Clears
#13 - Division Chief Diane Zuspan
For our first female guest on the podcast, we have none other than retired Division Chief Diane Zuspan.
Chief Zuspan originally had no desire to join the fire department. However, she entered the EMS world as a young adult and fell in love with it. Her journey as a paramedic took her from the west coast, to the middle of the country, and finally to the east coast, where she became a full time career firefighter and never looked back.
Diane shares about what it was like to be a woman in the fire service, and the ups and downs that came with that. Fortunately, at every stage of her career, she was surrounded by good men who never made her gender an issue. She was able to rise through the ranks of her department, eventually ending up at the division chief level...one step below chief of the department.
Post retirement, she and her husband (also a retired firefighter) have traveled the world and are fully enjoying living the retired life.
Chief Zuspan can be reached at dianezuspan@comcast.net
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