Bayonne gets first female firefighter

BAYONNE, N.J. (WABC) -- For 108 years, Bayonne, New Jersey has had nothing but men in their fire trucks but that's about to change.

"I'm looking forward to putting out my first fire," said Cailin Brodel, a Bayonne Firefighter.

Meet 27-year-old Cailin Brodel, the city's first ever female firefighter.

"She literally competed with hundreds of people for the position and she demonstrated in many ways she's highly capable of doing this job," said Greg Rogers, the Bayonne Fire Chief.

Cailin has to be able to perform all of the grueling tasks associated with this job, one of them is being able to use the jaws of life and this machine weighs 75 pounds.

"Climbing stairs, change a hose line, advancing a charged hose line, raising a ground later," Brodel said.

She repelled down the side of a building in training.

Brodel said that she's had some naysayers about her abilities to hang with the men but she didn't let it get to her.

"Giving up literally never crossed my mind, it was not an option at all," Brodel said.

Hiring a female firefighter is one thing, getting the crew and firehouse ready for her is another.

For that, the chief had female firefighters from other towns show him what he needed to change.

"The bathing facilities and bathrooms are now secured so people have privacy and so forth," Rogers said.

Bayonne's mayor says Brodel is even going in the town's history book.

"She'll get that chapter in the book, she deserves it, she's going to get it," Bayonne Mayor James Davis said.

"The whole making history part I can't really wrap my head around it yet, I'm just kind of focused on the job and doing a good job and learning as much is possible," Brodel said.