Paige Williams’ career change is more unusual than most. As a professional female footballer, Liverpool-born Williams enjoyed phenomenal success, winning Serie A and the Copper Italia with Brescia Calcio Femminile in 2015-16. She also picked up two Women’s FA Cup runners-up medals, cementing herself as one to watch in women’s football.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Paige found herself doubting her future in the beautiful game and decided to take on a completely different challenge. Paige joined Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to blaze a trail as an LGBT+ female firefighter. The 29-year-old has truly made a name for herself in firefighting and has since gone on to become a Watch Manager.
We caught up with Paige ahead of competing in the British Firefighter Challenge and celebrating afterwards at Pride in Liverpool…
How was the transition from footballer to firefighter and what made you decide to change careers?
I went through a period of just falling out of love with the game, and when Covid hit it gave me a bit of a reality check – what was I going to do when football eventually finished? And then I found Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and it’s been the best decision I have ever made. The transition was easy because in my eyes I was transitioning from one team to another. Since joining I knew instantly that I was part of an organisation that is forward-thinking and, for the best part, an inclusive environment. I think I enjoy challenging stereotypes from football to fire and I will continue to do so throughout my career.
What does a day in the life of a Watch Manager at Merseyside Fire and Rescue look like?
It is a privilege for me to be a Watch Manager so early in my career and I am really enjoying the role. I still get to be operational, but I have always really enjoyed making decisions, and that is something that was a good skill I transferred over from football. A Watch Manager is expected to lead the crew on a day-to-day basis; so carrying our briefs, planning training sessions, helping with apprentices and the officer-in-charge when we turn out to an incident. The best part about the job is the people. I love going out into the community and carrying out home fire safety checks because you get 5 minutes to make an impact on someone’s day, and sometimes you are the first person they have spoken to!
Would you say it’s important to increase women’s representation in firefighting?
For me representation is massive in any organisation that serves the public. You really do have to see it to be it and the more we can recruit the right people from underrepresented groups the better. I have always been a believer that if you can do the job then what religion, sexuality, or ethnicity you are does not matter. I take an active role in the recruitment of more women because I see the importance of diversity when we turn out to incidents. Women have an alternative way of thinking sometimes and can really bring something different. As a service, we have a higher percentage of females in operational roles than most other fire services and I do believe the tide is starting to turn and we are seeing a new generation of people who are open-minded and don’t see any barriers in the way to joining. And as a service, we will continue to break down any of these barriers.
What would you say are the biggest challenges of being an LGBT+ woman in the firefighting industry and how do you overcome them?
If I am being completely honest, I have had nothing but positive experiences with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. We are trying to create a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and I think the more LGBT+ firefighters we have the better that will be. What I have experienced is that we have more representation from female LGBT+ than we do for men and we are still trying to break down barriers so we create an environment where people feel like they can be themselves.
How is Merseyside Fire and Rescue supporting and being more inclusive of LGBT+ staff?
Here in Merseyside, we have a LGBT+ network that meets up every couple of months and gives people a space to talk, ask questions and together come up with ideas on how we can move the service forward. The plan moving forward is to grow the network and hopefully bring in external people to chair some of their meetings. We also support Pride every year and take part in the March that leaves from the city centre fire station. Hopefully, moving forward, we can create an environment where every single person brings their whole self to work, and Merseyside is definitely moving in that direction.
