SARASOTA- It’s a very rewarding career but it’s not easy. In this week’s Now Hiring Nadine I find out first hand if I have what it takes to be a Sarasota County Firefighter.


Firefighters typically have 90 seconds to suit up. So I try to keep up four year veteran Miriam Troyer.

I did not finish first but still managed to finish it in the allotted time. Troyer is guiding me through a series of exercises.


“So thing we are doing is we are going to do the dummy drag this simulating dragging someone out of a house,” said Troyer. “Any of training you want to simulate like a typical adult size. Its a lot of technique, so you want to make you don’t hurt your back, use your knees, as a female use your legs as your drags these.”


The heat is nearly unbearable under pounds of gear and equipment, but this training could mean the difference between life and death.


“Most everybody knows these as the jaws of life and we use these mostly for car accidents, for people that are, we trapped in cars , we cut roofs off the cars , cut open doors,” said Troyer.


Constantly training and staying fit, Troyer says many girls ask her how to join the fire service.


“I normally tell them train hard, if it’s something that you want to do you can do it no matter what get yourself physically fit that’s the biggest thing , you have to want to do it in order to pass all the physical tests and all the things you are going to encounter in this job,” said Troyer.


Sarasota County Firefighters are medically trained providing advance life support when needed that could mean on the highway, or in the middle of the night.


“So what we are doing now is we just cut the guy out of the car we are going to get our stretcher backboard and package him up and take him to the ambulance,” said Troyer.