The Trailblazing Women Who Fight California’s Fires

Christie Hemm Klok’s 3-year-old son couldn't get enough of firefighters. He had a toy engine truck, a plastic helmet he wore all the time, and a collection of books showing firefighters dousing fires and saving lives. But most of them were men, and the lack of women bugged Hemm Klok. "There was maybe one female in any of the books," she says, "and she had short hair and maybe a pink shirt on." Hemm Klok wanted to show her son a more inclusive vision of the world.