Montgomery County firefighter Jennifer Kingsberry is a trailblazer. She’s one of few female firefighter volunteers within the Abington Township Fire Department (ATFD). Leza Raffel profiled her for the Abington Patch.  

Kingsberry balances her public-safety duty with a respiratory therapist career and a family life that has her parenting two daughters with her husband, Sean. He’s also an Abington Township Fire Department volunteer, with ten years’ experience aside her eight.

“Women are an untapped force [in this service], and it would be nice to volunteer with more of them,” Kingsberry said.

Kingsberry seeks to encourage female volunteers by eagerly noting that the Abington station is “family-friendly and inclusive.” 

The Abington Township Fire Department operates to give volunteers the needed flexibility to juggle home, career, and firefighting.

“You can be available during off hours if you work a 9 to 5,” she explained. “Or vice versa, if you work a night shift. Or [there are shifts available] if you’re a parent at home while the kids are in school.” 

Kingsberry sees volunteering as giving back to the community, but there are other rewards as well. She notes that she’s met a corps of great people she’s befriended along the way.

More about the Abington Township Fire Department volunteer firefighter program — and how women (and men) can get involved — is at the Abington Patch.  

Abington Township fire department’s recruitment video.