- Are you curious about careers in science?

Hi, I'm Genesis, and today I'm here with Chief Teresa Robinson.

Teresa can you tell me where you are, and what you do?

- I'm an assistant fire chief here in Lansing, Michigan, where I get to lead the day to day operations of a fire department.

I teach the men and men and women here the various aspects of their job.

I also respond to various emergencies.

Everything from fires, to car accidents, medical emergencies, water rescues, and many other types of emergencies.

- How is STEM incorporated into your job?

- STEM is incorporated in everyday of my job.

I use science to figure out how to put the fire out.

We use technology in a lot of the tools we use such as a thermal imaging camera which helps us find people in fire that we can't see.

We use engineering in a lot of the rescues we do, and we use math everyday to figure out the pressure of the water going through the hose lines.

And also the length of hose we need, and the length of ladders, and equipment that we need to accomplish the job at hand.

- What happens when someone reports a fire?

- Well when someone reports a fire, we get special calls that come into our fire station to let us know that there's that type of an emergency.

Then all of us run to the fire truck, and put all of our protective gear on as quick as possible and get on the truck.

We wanna have all of our gear on, and be leaving the station in less than two minutes.

(sirens blaring) - How did you become interested in a career like this?

- Actually I never thought about it when I was younger.

I never saw a girl firefighter.

I never thought girls could be firefighters.

And it wasn't until I was college and I had some firefighters invite me to come ride along.

And I saw what they did, the way they help people and I just thought it was great.

And that was what attracted me to the fire service because when people call 911, they might be having the worst day of their life, and something bad is happening to them, and we get to come and try to make that better.

So that's the best part of the job.

(electric piano note plays) - Chief Teresa Robinson really ignited my interest firefighting.

Explore your possibilities!

(violin strums)