Groveland's newest class of firefighters is all female
5 women join 32-member staff
Groveland's fire department is growing, and all the new hires have something in common -- They're all women.
Firefighters Alyssa Bosch, Lisa Evans, Jennifer Hicks, Courtney Panaro and Megan Shea recently joined the department's 32-member staff.
Four of them are scheduled to attend the academy in the fall and two of the women will work alongside their husbands in the department, the department said.
Evans has already been a firefighter in the West Newbury Fire Department, and is working for both departments. Her husband is a deputy chief in West Newbury and also a member of the Groveland department.
Bosch, whose husband is also a firefighter in Groveland Fire Department, said that seeing her husband attend the fire academy last winter ignited her own passion to join the department.
Hicks spend 17 years as a certified special education teacher. She has a master's degree in psychology and recently earned her EMT certification.
Panaro is a student at North Shore Community College, where she is studying fire protection and safety technology. She had wanted to be a firefighter since she was a little girl, the department said.
Shea is a 2015 graduate of Pentucket High School who participated in the West Newbury junior firefighter program. She is also a student at North Shore Community College and plans to transfer to Salem State University to pursue a degree in nursing.