Longtime Greenfield Fire Territory firefighter/paramedic Beth Haggard retired after 28-plus years of service.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — From the time she was a small child, as early as about 5 years old, Beth Haggard wanted to be a firefighter. She pursued that dream, despite others telling her the profession wasn’t for her, especially because she was a girl.
“That old television show, ‘Emergency’ (series from 1972-79), well I got hooked on that show, and I just knew without a shadow of doubt being a firefighter was something I was going to do, and I never let go of that,” Haggard said.
After over 28 years as a firefighter for the Greenfield Fire Territory, a career she started when she was fresh out of Mt. Vernon High School as an 18-year-old volunteer, Haggard officially stepped down from the profession in early March.
“I had a lot of mixed feelings about leaving,” Haggard said.
A health issue pushed her to retire sooner than she had expected. A few months ago, doctors told her she had a golf-ball-sized cyst on her spine, something she had to have immediate surgery on.
“There was just no way my body could handle coming back from that, having that kind of heavy load as a firefighter,” Haggard said.
While it was a tough decision to give up something she truly loved doing, Haggard said she’s been able to process the retirement and come to grips with it being time for her to move on.
“It was just time for me to shut that door and realize that skill set wasn’t going to be used anymore,” Haggard said. “That is hard because it is me leaving my home, something I’ve done for a third of my life.”
Haggard, 51, is able to continue working as a paramedic and is doing so at the Indiana Grand Race Track in Shelbyville, covering any injuries that may happen on or associated with the track.
“It’s a beautiful environment, and I love being outside,” Haggard said. “The racing family is kind of like a fire department family in that we’re all one family, and this position allows me to leave the fire service but to still be part of a work family.”
Haggard made many friends in the firefighting service throughout the years, including the 17 years she put in with Indiana Task Force 1 — a group of the state’s top firefighters who service other areas in distress. Some of the firefighting friends she considers as family, she said. However, she also ran into a lot of hurdles being a woman in a predominantly men’s profession.
“I’ve just had a lot of people through my career, even after years of being a firefighter, telling me I should not be in the profession because it’s not something women should do,” Haggard said. “But, I knew that was not for them, but for me and God to decide, so I kept at it.”
Haggard feels she was meant to be a firefighter, and nothing confirmed it more than a car accident in 2005 — one she and her family members were involved in. It was her skill set that helped save her son, who was 5 years old at the time. After the accident, the life-saving event reinforced her belief she was destined to be a first-responder.
“I knew when I was trapped in that car trying to take care of Matt (her son), everything that I had done in my career led up to that moment,” Haggard said. “My desire to push and compete with myself to always be the best brought me to that moment.”
When Haggard first joined the fire service as a professional at age 22, she had to earn the respect of senior firefighters, something she was able to do. She had to continue to prove herself throughout the years when others came onboard the department and questioned her ability. Haggard said she finally got to a point where she realized she didn’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore and always focused on her job and learning more about firefighting.
“As the years went by, I just decided to put my head down and work, and realized I didn’t have to prove anything, having done my work a million times over,” Haggard said. “I’ve got that longevity to prove it — I had a strong sense of my self worth and the ability to overcome.”
Chief Brian Lott noted Haggard will be missed for many reasons, including her leadership in the department — something he discovered she possessed seven years ago when he first met her.
“It is most definitely difficult to lose a seniority, 28-year service person because those are the people our younger firefighters are being mentored by,” Lott said. “We never want to lose a person like that because at least half of our department has five years of experience or less.”
As far as Haggard being a successful firefighter working in what has been a typically men’s profession, Lott said they are trying to branch out and hire more minorities.
“In Greenfield, we haven’t had a big history of women being in the firefighting industry, but we’ve tried to hire some and other minorities for sure, and we will continue to do that,” Lott said.
Despite a few naysayers along the way, Haggard feels blessed to have been a career firefighter for nearly three decades, saying she’s been able to see and do things only some could imagine. She’s mostly thankful for the lessons learned and lives she helped save.
“I am beyond thankful for the career that I had and the people it brought into my life,” Haggard said.
There will be a special retirement party for Haggard set for 5 p.m. Thursday, April 6 at GFT Station 422 located at 210 W. New Road. The event is open to the public. Haggard said it will be good to see those she’s worked with through the years and the patients and family members she’s impacted throughout the community for nearly three decades.
