When Tina Ebanks-McBean joined the Cayman Islands Fire Service in 2002 as the first female certified firefighter, she knew she would not be the last woman, and worked twice as hard to lay a foundation for others to build on.
Two decades later, Ebanks-McBean, who is now the deputy fire chief (administration), is looking to a new generation of trailblazing women to take the service forward as she interviews potential recruits.
“I encourage more women, but women that are serious about the dirty, hard work that they have to do,” Ebanks-McBean said in a recent Zoom interview with the Cayman Compass.
Stressing that she doesn’t mean that women in the service are not doing the dirty work, she explained that some who have tried out for the job were not up to the tasks.
“I don’t know if they’re scared to do the hard work or they can’t manage, but know that when you come in here, we expect the same thing from you as we do from the men. There’s no easing up for you because you’re a female,” Ebanks-McBean said, as she called for more female applicants to aspire to a career in the service.
Right now there are only four women in the service: Ebanks-McBean; Tiffany Ebanks, station manager (fire inspection); Amelia Gillispie, firefighter (aviation); and Shanelle Frederick, probationary firefighter.
The deputy fire chief said she wants to see this change – not just in Grand Cayman, but the Sister Islands as well.
“We recently did a recruitment drive here in Grand Cayman, in Cayman Brac and the big push was for uptake of more officers in the Sister Islands and also females in the service,” she said.
The service has already held the written and swimming tests; next up is the physical exam.
“We have two females successful up until this point so I would say good luck to those two and the others that are gonna do the same thing over here in the coming weeks,” she added.
Tough, but rewarding road
It has not been an easy road for Ebanks-McBean, but as she looks back on the journey, she is grateful to have accomplished a career her three children can be proud of.
The Fire Service was not her first entry into the uniformed services, as Ebanks-McBean started her career with the civil service in customs before trying out for fire.
It was something that was in her blood, she said.
“I felt proud of myself becoming a firefighter because my grandfather was a captain for the Miami-Dade Fire Department in Florida so it was that, that drove me to become a firefighter,” she said.
Her brother Stephen Ebanks is also a firefighter.
Along the way, Ebanks-McBean did a lot of training, from essential domestic firefighting and aerodrome firefighting, to becoming certified in pump operations, and APEC-certified to be a telecommunicator in the control room.
She also worked in the field, and through the years many incidents have stayed with her.
For one, she has never forgotten the condominium fire she battled shortly after she joined the frontline in the Fire Service.
The fire happened at The Retreat at Rum Point.
“I fought the fire. I made two entries with breathing apparatus and I was just enthusiastic about going, and then I just kept going, going, going. It was nerve-racking in a sense, but when the adrenaline kicks in, you just go,” she said.
She also recounted responding to motor vehicle collisions and having to help extricate victims.
Opportunities to advance
Though she was the first female in the service, Ebanks-McBean said she was not denied opportunities to advance because she was tough and motivated to reach the highest level she could.
“For years it was only me as a woman and at that time there was no female quarters. So I worked alongside the men. The men respected me. When I needed to use the bathroom, I put up a sign to say ‘female in use’. When we had our downtime, there was one specific bunk that was mine, so no one ventured there. I fixed it up for myself, so I didn’t have any issues working on shift and more… I’m very strong,” she added.
Ebanks-McBean said after a while working on shift she wanted to build on her earlier work experience in banking and finance, so she reached out to the senior management team to get opportunities to use her skillset.
“I asked them ‘Can you allow me to improve the way we do the overtime monthly?’ I created spreadsheets and automated forms for us to use. I began to use my previous experience that I brought to the department to do other stuff… under Chief Fire Officer Kirkland Nixon and Deputy Chief Officer at the time Roy Grant and Senior Divisional Officer Carney Robinson. I was in the mix a lot administratively and worked in the emergency operations centre with hurricane [response],” she said.
Another first
Within a few years, Ebanks-McBean was sent overseas for a hurricane conference, a first for someone of her rank.
“I told my peers, I said, whatever you have inside you, whatever your experience is… use it… You’ll eventually be able to be valuable to the organisation. So I did this over four years and I was still a firefighter,” she said.
That led to more training and upward movement for Ebanks-McBean, from becoming a certified fire safety inspector through a course at Florida State Fire College to acting deputy chief in the domestic section.
At every turn in her career, Ebanks-McBean aspired to go further, but she said she is comfortable where she is at the moment.
“Right now I am good where I’m at and I’m very supportive of Chief Fire Officer Randy Rankin,” Ebanks-McBean said.
She said none of her kids has followed in her footsteps, and she is glad for that as “I don’t really want my kids working here because I would be as hard as I am or harder on them more than the staff that work with me.”
Ebanks-McBean said working in a leadership role in a male-dominated organisation can have its moments, but “I’m very firm and I’m easy to get along with.”
“I wouldn’t say men are my challenge; working with men is not my challenge. I grew up with older brothers and I would say growing up I was… tomboyish more than anything, so I had no hurdles with working with the men,” she added.
Ebanks-McBean encouraged young Caymanians to consider joining the Fire Service.
“Start getting fit because it is a really fast-paced job and you need to be fit in order to carry out the role. So start exercising, start asking questions and feel free to call the Fire Service on 949-2499 to ask questions about the try-outs… because it is best to be prepared,” she said.
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