Maryann Dragovan
As part of our International Women’s Day Series we hear from Maryann Dragovan, the Secretary/Dispatcher for Cranbrook Local 1253. Maryann has served Cranbrook Fire and Emergency Services for 18 years and is a member of the BCPFFA Women’s Advisory Committee. Read about a day in the life of Maryann in her role as a secretary/dispatcher below.
Why did you want to become a Secretary/Dispatcher with Cranbrook Fire & Emergency Services?
I wanted to become a Secretary/Dispatcher because I enjoy helping people. It gives me great pleasure and I felt it would be very fulfilling to have a profession in which I was able to help people every day. I also appreciate and admire those who put their lives on the line to protect our community, and to be able to work as part of a team with those people gives me a great sense of achievement. I also felt this career would be very dynamic and never boring, being different every day.
How would you describe a day in your role?
From the time I started my career, 18 years ago, my job has changed significantly. I started out as a Secretary and a few years into my career my job changed to Secretary/Dispatcher. Cranbrook Fire Department at that time dispatched for 17 communities. I was the main Dispatcher Monday-Friday.
Every day was different. My day may have started out with some administrative duties such as payroll, typing letters and reports, auditing paperwork etc. to receiving an emergency call that required all my time and attention. I would start out by taking the call, listening carefully to make sure I had the correct information. I would then dispatch the fire department responding to that area and providing them the information required to respond. My duties from there would be to dispatch agencies that the fire department may require such as EHS, RCMP, Hydro, Fortis Gas, Ministry of Environment, etc. I would be responsible for tracking pertinent response times and would continue monitoring the call and assisting with any other resources until the call was terminated and the responding apparatuses were back at the hall.
Receiving these emergency calls would get my heart pumping and my day would become very exciting, fast-moving and challenging at times. But knowing that I was able to assist someone in getting help right away made me want to do my job well. At times I may have had 2 or 3 emergency calls at one time. This can be very overwhelming depending on the type of calls and whether or not there are other firefighters/dispatchers in the hall to assist me. But knowing that you are working for the safety and well-being of your friends, neighbours, co-workers and community makes this job a highly rewarding one.
Just over five years ago our department was no longer dispatching. I continued on with my administrative duties and I was able to transition from Dispatcher to a role where I assist crews on scene at incidents. My role has gradually migrated towards on scene support of firefighters, the Incident Commander and department administrative staff. I feel I have found a valuable incident scene support role that continues to assist our members and citizens during incidents; just in a different capacity.
What do you find rewarding about your job?
The most rewarding part of my job is being part of a team that is helping those in need, and doing my part to the best of my ability to help the organization as a whole. I also really enjoy helping others during our community events and through our fundraisers that assist Muscular Dystrophy and the BC Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund. I find this very rewarding as well.
Another rewarding aspect of my job is being part of a second family. Having 24 brothers is definitely overwhelming at times, but l am so happy to have this opportunity to work with such an amazing group of people! Lastly, it’s rewarding being part of a larger organization provincially, nationally and internationally.