PARADISE, Utah — Service has always been at the core of Ashley Smith, but she never anticipated volunteering at Paradise Fire and Rescue, or eight years later becoming the first woman fire chief in Cache Valley and perhaps Northern Utah.
Smith grew up in Cache Valley, moving around the valley and eventually settling in Paradise with her husband and four children.
Smith and her husband have always had a strong passion for service, she said. They have fostered eight children, adopted one child, Smith has had three surrogacy babies for two families and her husband is a nurse and also volunteers in the department.
Smith has always worked, and when she tried to stay at home for some time, it didn’t last long, she said.
“I kept passing this sign, as soon as we moved here,” Smith said. “The sign said, ‘volunteers needed for Paradise Fire.’”
As a resident of Logan for most of her life, Smith thought Paradise Fire and Rescue was like Logan’s department, and paid its firefighters. She did not anticipate what volunteering would entail.
Smith kept passing the sign and had a nagging feeling to see what it was about and how she could be of help.
“I showed up and they said do you want to do EMT or fire,” she said.
Smith wasn’t trained in either, but she signed up to be trained for both at the same time. Eventually, Smith was “voluntold” she was doing wild land fires as well, she said.
Smith took as many classes as she could to be trained in everything, and she eventually began instructing.
“When I started, I fell in love with the people I work with, I fell in love with the community,” she said.
One day, Smith was moved into an officer position, and for the past year she has been assistant chief of the department.
“The reason I have taken so many classes is because I don’t want to ask anyone to do anything I am not willing or able to do myself,” Smith said. “That is really important to me that I have their trust, not just because I am in a position to have trust but because I have actually earned it. I was there with you; I am willing to put in the effort I am willing to work alongside of you. We have a great department that way. We all just work almost like a family unit; we are so close knit.”
The hardest part was not going out on calls, “It was the test taking,” Smith said. As someone who has test anxiety but excelled in all the classes, she said testing out was difficult. Smith was ready for the action.
“Honestly, it almost came naturally to me,” she said. “That is one thing that I can just show up and my brain automatically knows what we do, we get this fire out as soon as possible, my brain categorizes it really well.”
Smith will now be taking the place of retired Paradise Fire Chief Troy Fredrickson.
“It’s a lot, let’s be honest,” she said. “Not just being the first woman but the person who is leaving has 40 years of experience. That is huge. It is already stepping into these huge footprints, in addition to being a woman.”
As the new Paradise fire chief, Smith said she is looking forward to seeing what the department can do and watching the team grow.