CRAWFORD COUNTY (KFSM) -- Captain Alyssa Olson is the first woman to hold her position with Crawford County Fire District Three.
“My fire chief told me as far as he knows, as far as it goes back, I’m the first female fire captain that we've had here,” she said.
She is captain of the Graphic station in Crawford County, but works closely with the four other stations in the district, including Mountainburg.
About a week into the job, the 23-year-old Olson has a few goals.
One of them is to recruit more volunteer firefighters; there are five at the Graphic station now, including her.
“I don't want to be chief or anything, but I want to be knowledgeable enough that someday maybe I could be,” she said.
Olson said she hopes to inspire her daughter, and others, to pursue the job they want.
“It doesn't matter if you're a girl or a boy you can do whatever you want,” she said. “I just want, definitely girls to know, you can be a firefighter, you can be a paramedic, you can be a cop, you can be whatever you want to be. Don’t think -- especially firefighter -- don't think you have to be a big muscled-up guy to do it."
Of the 40 firefighters within the district, Olson said there are about six women.