I am New Brunswick’s First Female Firefighter

Material Information

Title:
I am New Brunswick’s First Female Firefighter
Alternate Title:
Interview with Suzanne Gardner: First Female Firefighter of New Brunswick
Creator:
Cunningham, Monika ( interviewer )
Gardner, Suzanne ( interviewee )
Espinoza-Wulach, Cristóbal ( advisor )
Place of Publication:
Edison, NJ
Publisher:
Middlesex College
Publication Date:
Copyright Date:
2022
Physical Description:
I am New Brunswick’s first female Firefighte

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Firefighters -- New Jersey -- Middlesex County
Women fire fighters ( lcsh )
Middlesex County (N.J.) -- history
Public Safety -- United States
Genre:
oral histories ( lcsh )
Temporal Coverage:
Spring 2022 ( - 2022 )
Spatial Coverage:
New Jersey -- Middlesex County

Notes

Abstract:
This interview covers Suzanne Gardner's career path before becoming a firefighter and her experience working as the first female firefighter in New Brunswick ( ,,,,,,,, )
Scope and Content:
This is a transcript [and/or recording] of an oral history interview that took place as part of the class projects for Middlesex College's History 222H class in the Spring of 2022.
Biographical:
(Biographical) My name is Suzanne Gardner. I was born June 12, 1964 in Jersey City, NJ. My family moved to New Brunswick when I was 4 years old. I went through the New Brunswick Public School system attending Washington, Roosevelt, and Redshaw. I graduated from New Brunswick High School in 1982. In the fall of 1982, I attended Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison NJ and graduated in 1986 with a degree in Recreation Management. After graduating from FDU, I entered social work by becoming a counselor at Plaid House, a group home for troubled young women in Morristown NJ. In 1989, I returned to the City of New Brunswick and began work as a full time Recreation Supervisor My job responsibilities included organizing and implementing various youth and adult recreation leagues and creating and implementing special events. It was at one of these events that I became aware of the opportunity to become a FireFighter for the City of New Brunswick. After submitting an application, I completed and passed both the written and physical exams in 1999. On September 12, 2001, I was offered a position in the New Brunswick Fire Department upon successful completion Of the Middlesex County Fire Academy. On October 24, 2001, I became New Brunswick’s first female Firefighter. I served 18 and half years on the 3rd platoon, with 15 of them driving Engine 1. In May of 2020, after 30 years of service to the City of New Brunswick (11 ½ in the Recreation Department and 18 ½ in the Fire Department) I retired from the New Brunswick Fire Department.
Venue:
Recorded on May 2, 2022

Record Information

Source Institution:
Middlesex College
Holding Location:
Middlesex College
Rights Management:
This item is licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivative License. This license allows others to download this work and share them with others as long as they mention the author and link back to the author, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.