In a first, women firefighters blaze a trail in Pakistan’s Karachi

KARACHI: Samara Hussain dons her fire-resistant suit, helmet, gloves and boots before she races toward a fire truck in southern Pakistani city of Karachi. As the siren blares, the 26-year-old and her team rush to the site of a blaze in the Saddar business district, ushering in a new era for women in the country in the male-dominated field.
Hussain is one of around 20 women firefighters inducted into Sindh Rescue 1122, an emergency response service launched in the southern Pakistani province in December 2020. Before joining the service on July 1, she underwent six months of rigorous technical and professional training in the Punjab province, which pioneered the service 18 years ago.
Hussain says a majority of her relatives were skeptical of her ability to handle fires, climb heights or rescue people from wells, but her family encouraged her to go ahead with it.
“My family told me to go out and do this work,” she told Arab News after a fire incident. “They said I could do it, but some relatives said I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be able to. But when I entered this field, I showed them that I could.”
Since being inducted into the service, the 26-year-old has participated in numerous firefighting operations, including a major blaze at Kashif Center in the city.
“I did firefighting there, and I showed them that look, I can do it,” she said, beaming with pride.
In Punjab, Shazia Parveen became Pakistan’s first ever woman firefighter in 2010. However, until recently, the fire department in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh and the largest city of Pakistan, exclusively inducted men.
The induction of Hussain and others into Rescue 1122, which runs its own fire department parallel to the one under the city’s metropolitan corporation, marked a historic milestone for the southern province.
“Currently, there are 72 women operating [as part of Rescue 1122 service] throughout Karachi,” said Ayesha Farooq, in-charge of Rescue 1122 station in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area. “Additionally, a group of 180 women is ready to join the Punjab Services Academy for training.”

The rescue service handles a wide range of emergencies, including height rescue, urban search and rescue, firefighting and rescue from water — now with woman representation in all domains.
“This is considered a very challenging task as going into a fire to save people’s lives is not an easy task,” Farooq said, adding that while it was particularly tough for women, they had proven their mettle.
“In recent fire incidents, our female rescuers have been at the forefront, firefighting alongside their male rescuers.”
Farooq said all Rescue 1122 women members were currently posted in Karachi, but they would be deployed in other districts of the province soon.
For Hussain, who is the first firefighter from her remote Sanghar district, fear just vanishes, whenever she is on a mission to save lives.
“When there’s a fire and people are in danger, our passion to save lives increases and any fear we might have about going into the fire completely disappears,” she told Arab News.
Inspired by her bravery, she said, a number of her friends and relatives were now seeking similar job opportunities.
Hussain acknowledges that being a firefighter or a rescuer is a tough job, but she wants more women to take them up and prove that they can do it.
“Women must come out,” she said. “What men can do, women can also do.”