Episode 20

Fighting Forest Fires: Linda Strader on Breaking Barriers

Published on: 1st October, 2025

When Linda Strader joined a US Forest Service fire crew in the 1970s, she didn’t know how rare it was for women to do that kind of work - she just wanted an interesting job. But she quickly realized she was stepping into a world that didn’t necessarily welcome her. In this episode, Linda shares what it was like to be one of the first women on a fire crew, the discrimination she faced, and why she loved the work enough to keep coming back for seven seasons.

"I wasn't trying to prove anything to them. I just wanted to be accepted as part of the crew. And working twice as hard, I had hoped, would mean that they would accept me."

Hear Linda talk about:

  • What a fire crew actually does beyond just battling flames
  • How she got the job with no idea women weren’t “allowed”
  • The hostility she faced from many coworkers and supervisors
  • The physical and emotional toll of working to prove herself again and again
  • Why she loved the job regardless of the hardships

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About the Podcast

Tell Me What It's Like
Everyday people, uncommon experiences
What’s it like to set a world record? To invent a new product? To survive an extremely rare illness?

On Tell Me What It’s Like, host Stacy Raine sits down with people who’ve lived through powerful and uncommon experiences. Each conversation explores how it happened, why it matters, and what it truly felt like to live through it.

About your host

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Stacy Raine

I was 16 when I conducted my first interview. I was a nervous high school kid assigned to interview a WWII veteran. It was an incredibly emotional conversation, and an experience I still think about to this day. I didn’t know it then, but that moment would shape everything that followed.

As a nonprofit communicator and podcast producer, I’ve spent my career thinking about the stories we all have to share. Tell Me What It’s Like unearths the backstory to the small and large moments that changed everything.

One of my biggest beliefs is that sharing stories connects us – as long as we're willing to listen.