Meet the Commission Members, Episode 2: Mona Hjortzberg, vice chair, Women in Fire & Rescue

Meet the members of the CTIF Commission for Women in Fire & Rescue Services! The Chair Mira Leionen  had a great idea during the commission´s last spring meeting in Fairfax, Virginia to capture short interviews with the Commission Members.

Our second commisison member to be featured is:

Mona Hjortzberg - Sweden

Vice chair, CTIF Commission for Women in Fire & Rescue Services

Mona started working in the fire and rescue services in 1997, by participating in a government project that was carried out by the Stockholm Fire Brigade. The project lasted for ten months and was investigating why there were no female full time professional firefighters. In 1998, Mona was hired as a firefighter by Södertörn's Fire Brigade and worked in that capacity for twenty years.

As an elected union representative, Mona started working in 2007 with issues that concern women at the workplace, such as attitudes towards women, pregnancy, firefighting equipment and protective clothing. During this time, she began forming a nationwide network for women in fire and rescue services. The network, called Women in Fire and Rescue Services, was officially started in 2011. Mona was elected chair that first year and is still chair today.

Since 2015, Mona has worked at the Swedish Municipal Workers' Union as a national officer. She works with issues concerning the working environment and labour law, and is an expert in fire and rescue services.

In 2013, Mona represented Sweden in the CTIF Working Group Women in Fire Services and was elected in 2015 as vice chair of the Commission for Women in Fire and Rescue Services.

Watch Episode 1, Nicola Lown, United Kingdom

Over the next few weeks, we will continue to feature more members of the CTIF Commission for Women in Fire & Rescue. We also encourage other CTIF Commissions to do the same, or something similar. All it takes is figuring out a few questions, a mobile phone with a camera, and with little effort, you can make a short video portrait of your Commission for CTIF.org!