Former lieutenant, now Captain Jan Rader was sworn in during an afternoon ceremony at City Hall surrounded by family, friends, fellow firefighters, Huntington City Council members and Mayor David Felinton.

Rader is a 10 year veteran of the department who works as a recruiter and trainer at the Tri-State Fire Academy.

Huntington Fire Chief Greg Fuller says this is an important milestone for the city because it demonstrates women can succeed in a traditionally male-dominated profession. He also hopes other women will recognize that brute strength is not a requirement to fight fires.

Fuller says firefighting involves a lot of finesse and creative thinking and he credits Rader with high marks in those categories. He says Rader's small physical stature is proof that physical fitness and endurance can often be as important as raw strength. According to the chief, Rader has learned how to do some of the most difficult carries especially those involving carrying a person heavier then herself and is now teaching those skills to others.

Rader says she only weighs 120 lbs. and laughs at the notion that firefighters have to muscle-bound to be good at their jobs. She hopes her promotion and career path will demonstrate to other women that anything is possible and stereotypes are meant to be broken.

Fellow firefighter Mathew Winters says there will always be naysayers who don't believe women should be involved in dangerous professions but he says in firefighting, if you don't do the job, you won't last long. He says Rader has proved herself over the years adapting her high level of physical fitness to the job at hand despite her diminutive size. Winters says the new captain has earned the trust of her peers and in firefighting, few things are more important since firefighters depend on each other for their very lives.

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