Well, that, and besides, she's pretty hot. Okay, well, she's very cute. Add the fact that she flies helos through forest fires and that makes her sexy hot! Smokin' even...
Posted on 10/16/2014 7:05:21 AM PDT by BenLurkin
CHINO (CBSLA.com) — When lives are on the line and homes are in danger, Desiree Horton swoops into action.
Horton is a helicopter pilot for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection – CAL FIRE — in San Bernardino. She is the first and only woman to fly for the agency.
“At an early age, I was hooked … fascinated me, piqued my interest,” Horton told CBS2’s Tom Wait. “For me, it’s exciting to know that we’re going to go out there and make a difference.”
Her job is one of the most unique and high-pressure in the Southland.
“It’s an honor,” Horton said. “It’s been a long road to get to where I am today.
“I feel like I won the career lottery,” she added. “I’ve been flying for 24 years, and I’ve been flying for CAL FIRE for almost two years now. This is my second season with CAL FIRE.”
Horton’s job isn’t just to pilot the chopper. She has to fill a tank with water and then drop it with laser precision. Take the Colby Fire earlier this year — every second counted — Horton needed to unload thousands of gallons of water in the right spot, and if she missed, dozens of homes could have burned.
“Every drop is different ‘cause you have to correct for wind and depending on the terrain and how close you can get to needing what you have to get that water on,” Horton said. “Every time you make a drop, you always have to kind of predict where that water’s going to go — and sometimes we miss.”
Horton takes the pressures of her job in stride and doesn’t have time to think about being a trailblazer. But she acknowledges there have been some surprised faces.
“Anywhere we go. We show up at an airport or we land at a helibase on a large fire, people are always looking for the guy on the crew that’s the pilot,” she said. “I guess I don’t look like the pilot. I don’t carry that persona.”
Getting a job with CAL FIRE is no easy task — for men or women. Horton worked a number of piloting jobs first, including a job flying a news chopper for CBS.
“I loved being able to cover that and bring the story to people’s homes, but I wanted to be down there in the action, so that was always tough for me to fly news when I knew my passion was to do fire,” Horton said. “But in order to get into fire, I had to make the sacrifices where I had to basically leave SoCal. I had to fly out of state on fire contracts for many years, to get the experience with CAL FIRE. A lot of paying your dues.”
Horton says there isn’t any one fire that stands out for her — each one is a challenge but the goal is always the same — protecting people and their homes. CAL FIRE says it wants more women like Horton, but finding them isn’t easy.
“As an example, we’ve seen our numbers fall off for female applicants,” CAL FIRE Capt. Liz Brown said. “We had a thousand applicants, and we had about 10 females apply.”
So for now, Horton will fly solo as the only CAL FIRE female pilot, but she and the department will continue to push for more diversity.
“We need women. CAL FIRE supports women,” Brown said. “But again women aren’t applying. We absolutely want to encourage women to apply.”
Horton, meanwhile, lets her ability as a chopper pilot speak for her.
“I just see that I do my job just as good as anyone else and the spotlight will possibly me on me because I stand out more because I am a female, so I just have to make sure I’m on my game, and I’m doing things the right way,” she said.
Diversity hire. Her daddy must be so proud.
Just so it’s clear: you are saying that Horton is not competent for this CalFire job, right?
Well, if she can do the job, it’s all good. I hope she was not a diversity hire. The whole idea of affirmative action should be tossed in my opinion.
If a rare woman helicopter pilot can help fight fires, great. If she is trained and has the same skills as all the rest of the pilots, that is.
I’m saying that the push for diversity makes each hire questionable. The goal shifts from picking best qualified to filling quotas.
Who writes these headlines?
She blazes a trail as a helicopter pilot fighting fires? Is that wording supposed to be clever????
Jeez, I knew female pilots flying fires 30 years ago in Arizona.
Mostly old DC-7’s but other equipment as well.
Not exactly a new thing. CAL FIRE just has a lotta old farts would guess.
yawn
You should have just said that to start with. Otherwise, you are dissing someone who, for all you know, is the most qualified.
As a confirmed Old Fart, I find your remark offensive. (not really)
She’s participating in these “first woman” stories rather than just doing the job. She gets what she gets.
Tee hee
It’s a job with a lot of competition...not surprised they are top heavy and it took her a long time to get in
She’s angling for something better: Hollywood.
A woman that good looking with that job story is already lining up interviews...
Makes sense. You’re the first woman in X job and the media comes to your place of business and wants to do a story. Of course you say “no” because it will ingratiate you to the people who hired you and you have no desire to let other women know that a previously inaccessible vocation is now open to them.
One other question, is she allowed to take off her burka before the stoning?
Point is, it’s not the women (or blacks, or whatever) who invite derision for “fist-whatever” stories, it’s the media. And even then, at least in this case, I can’t fault them too much. Bottom line is, it’s an interesting story. That’s what they do.
Burma? You’re quite the drama queen. First girl in your Boy Scout troop?
Yeah, I get it. If you can’t beat your opponent intellectually, try insults.
Whatever.
Exactly what I thouhgt when you threw out the burka comment. Thanks for concurring.
Well, that, and besides, she's pretty hot. Okay, well, she's very cute. Add the fact that she flies helos through forest fires and that makes her sexy hot! Smokin' even...
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