LYNNFIELD — Suzie Lilakos is currently Lynnfield’s only full-time female firefighter. Lilakos said she has wanted to be a firefighter for as long as she can remember, and never let her gender get in the way.
Lilakos grew up in Stratham, N.H., before moving to Wakefield, when she began searching for a firefighting job. She applied to Lynnfield, when they were hiring for their call side in 2015, and she said they were happy to take her on.
According to a study done in 2018 by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), only about 8 percent of firefighters in the country are females. Although those numbers are significant, Lilakos says that her experience as a firefighter doesn’t make her feel like a minority.
“As far as working with the guys in the firehouse, they don’t treat me differently just because I’m a female,” she said. “A lot of them know I’m stronger than them, we joke about it all the time.”
She said that she does receive questions and confused faces sometimes when she is on a call, usually from older patients. She has experienced a few instances where an older figure will question her ability to lift them, resulting in her co-workers usually stating that she is stronger than them.
“You come across these 80- to 90-year-old people that aren’t used to a female being in a male- dominated role,” Lilakos said. “When they see it, they’re a little surprised by it but then just get comfortable with you.”
She said she can do every aspect of her job in the firehouse just as well as the men she works with. From fighting fires to lifting patients, Lilakos is versatile in the firehouse.
Lilakos is also a general manager and coach at CrossFit 128 in Wakefield, where she said she has been in the business for a long time, so people are used to seeing her strength and respect her coaching and dedication to fitness.
Women have been perceived as physically weaker than men, but Lilakos proves that wrong.
She said seeing more women joining the firefighting workforce around the country, some even having a full female crew, is really cool to see. Growing up and wanting to be a firefighter, Lilakos said she dragged her feet on pursuing her dream for a while, until she decided to just go for it. She has now been a firefighter in Lynnfield for six years and said that she loves her job.
Lynnfield firefighter Jeff Fiorentino said Lilakos is a great asset to the department.
“She’s like our go-to person, she’s killing all the (female) boundaries and she’s in better shape than all of us,” he said. “She’s definitely a good feather in our cap, no question.”
Society has shaped women as appearing to be inferior to men, restricting them to taking care of the home back in the day. Lilakos, however, said that as this stereotype has been changing over the years, women can do anything just as well as men.
She said that now in particular, fire stations and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are looking for women, since sometimes patients are more comfortable with female assistance than a male.
She encourages girls to pursue whatever they want and to not let their gender deter them from following their dreams.
“You can do it,” she said. “Girls can do anything, and sometimes they can do it better than guys.”
