Today we’d like to introduce you to Dusty Dawn.
Dusty, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I began with Firehouse Dolls in 2003. My manager set me up with a modeling job with Firehouse Dolls. I shot with them for their Calendar. When I showed up we were shooting with fire trucks. I told the owner, John Shinkle, that I was a Paramedic when I wasn’t modeling. I set up an additional photoshoot with Joe Farace, the FHD photographer at that time while there. They enjoyed working with me and pointed out how my attitude was better and different than the other models. The owner asked what he had to do to get me to come back. I told him, stop letting these bimbos pretend to be us. Make it real Firefighters and I would come back, at that time I was a volunteer firefighter. He said there weren’t enough female firefighters to do a calendar, nevertheless attractive ones. I told him to add EMS and dispatch if he had to, but make it our people. So he did. In the meantime I was sexually assaulted at work. I blamed myself and my modeling. I became pregnant during that period of time as well. I was afraid to tell John, since it was my bright idea to do this. I assured him I could be back in model figure by the time the calendar was shot. I worked throughout my pregnancy until my belly was hitting the cot at 8 months and I couldn’t lift. I was under a lot of stress during my pregnancy. Curry, my son, had a seizure disorder when he was born. I blamed my assault, myself for being a model. my job for the strain on my body, and decided he needed a medic, Mom, and I needed a break from it all. A divorce later I went back to work on the ambulance. Got remarried to another Medic, helped put him through Medical School to be a Dr. Life was pretty good. I was involved in an active shooter situation at work, held at gunpoint, shot at, and ended up in the crossfire while a Police Officer named Dustin Todd put up his life for me. Everyone else left me to die in my mind. I know they were just saving themselves, which is what they should be doing. It was just a lot for a person. I ended up having to work the man that had me at gunpoint after he was shot multiple time. This man got up once to try and kill me again. It was hands down the worst call of my life. I was given an award for bravery for the acts of courage that put me in the middle of that situation. My partner was not and a lot of people were upset about that. His girlfriend had public words about me, the FD cut up their award because he was left out. I ended up becoming paralyzed in one of my hands from being ran over on that scene. I suffer from PTSD , trust, and abandonment anyhow, I didn’t need people judging me because I got an award for trying to save the man that shot me. No one around me cared what I was going through. There were two men, cops who had my back. They were calling and checking on me. I was struggling. Had to have surgery, lost both of my jobs while out for surgery and trying to keep up. I could no longer support my husband and he left me. I was in dire need of anything to pick me up. Something about Firehouse Dolls passed in front of me. I decided to apply again, not sure if they would take me. When I went back, it was completely different. It was 2015 and under new ownership. It had changed hands twice since I was last involved. Tiffany, owner of Firehouse Dolls with her husband, had changed the scene. She is a prison counselor and they had put together a Dolls weekend for the shoot. Where there were all these beautiful women of Firefighters and Rescue service. To see what it had become, and how the girls lifted me back up on my feet. I started coming back every year to see Tiff and the girls, as well as to help Tiffany. They gave me hope and comradery, that I hadn’t had. I went back, got my FPC, and got my Flight Medic job back. I moved to Texas for my flight job. I wasn’t happy with the care some of my patient’s were receiving at my base. I wasn’t happy with Firehouse Dolls because I felt like I was being used at that point. I was doing a lot of work and videos. My videos were being stolen by the girls from my page and no credit was being given to me. I felt like it was losing the aspect of why I was there. I left in 2023. In 2024 John flew to Texas to ask me to run Firehouse Dolls for him. He had bought it back and needed someone to run it. I accepted and went part time Flight and Education. In the meantime I was also working on an active shooter education course. I wanted to change Firehouse Dolls so the women didn’t feel like they were donating their entire lives to Fire and EMS, without ever getting supported the way they needed. It’s hard on you and it’s even harder on your family to be in this career. So we decided to move Firehouse Dolls to Texas for a new start. Now we are adding education incentives, community projects, training, and a look into Female Firefighters and Rescue workers in the Wild. We are so much more than a Calendar. Our ladies donate their time and effort to support our charities. Yet, women do not support us. The same women who ogle and drool at the male calendars without a negative word, destroy us. I promote beauty and strength. You have to be strong and hold your own in our department and adding beauty to that creates a different dynamic in 24 or more hour shifts. I get it, I wouldn’t want my husband working with me overnight either. However these women aren’t here to screw their husband, they are working. Every workplace has problems with infidelity and jealousy. When a wife thinks her husband is cheating on her, they go to the station page and look at the females in the group picture. They assume the woman he is messing around with is the most attractive girl there. When frankly 26 years of experience can tell you it’s the overweight homely one that is playing wife to your husband at work. Not the woman who is respecting your marriage and there doing her job. It’s something we can’t change. So all we can do is start showing these girls in depth. So women can relate to them as people, instead of assuming they know who they are. We have a subscription site coming so our fans can follow along with all of our trips and adventures. They can go to the shows and shoots. We have a Podcast coming up called “The Children of Chaos” Behind the scenes and screens of Fire and EMS. It will delve into the people of our profession and give completely uncensored reports of how our people are doing. Firehouse Dolls is the Oldest Female Firefighter calendar out there. There is an older Male calendar that just allowed women in, but we are the OLDEST FEMALE FIREFIGHTER CALENDAR. We have been around for over 22 years. We have big plans for our future, supporting the women in our industry.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Initially I just modeled for Firehouse Dolls. The craziest part is what I am wearing in my first calendar is in an evidence locker because I had them on the day I was assaulted. I can’t stand to see that calendar pic. I blamed myself for everything for 5 years. Then I decided it was time to not be a victim. I was not going to hide and be perfect out of fear of sexual assault. It was in a bit a way to empower myself back into my old life. Learning the difference between earned and unearned guilt was a game changer in my life. When I took the job as Spokemodel, I didn’t think I would be offered the job of President of the company. I was working on the website, the podcast, the images, and doing all the communication with the girls. I wanted to take the good that was built and get rid of the bad. What I didn’t realize, is that girls who were mad about the changes were sabotaging me in the background. They went from hating John to hating me, in what seemed to be overnight. While I was making changes to include education incentives, which were brought on by the girls I was cutting due to Only Fans accounts. The 2024 calendar girls did not know me. I missed one year and people treated me like some outside force trying to mess up their sisterhood. I realized I was very wise to leave when I did. Now I am back and this is my job. So I have to deal with what made me leave, to keep the kind of girls I want. There were all these keyboard warrior girls in the background in groups griping about the changes, making things up, and saying we were turning FHD into porn. I had an OF girl I wanted to keep. Her excuse was she was paying for Paramedic school. So I offered the education incentive to keep her. She didn’t even sign up for it. I was realizing whatever I did, they were going to twist it into something bad. I was hated by people I didn’t know, who were being told lies. I just went forward. I have been put down and destroyed by more women in the last year and a half then my entire life. All while trying to build something for them to stand on. They were donating their own money to fly in and do this stuff. Now I am paying for everything for them. I was working on ways to protect the girls from HR complaints from jealous girls. I had suffered that consequence all too many times at work. It’s the first thing a jealous woman goes for. They can have whatever they want up on their site. A beautiful woman in Fire or Flight is doing it, they are reporting them to their managers. The rules to work in our industry have high standards, but we still deserve to be off work and live our own life. I redid the website to be shoppable so we can model our own gear. I am putting the women out with portfolios instead of using them to make a calendar. We build these women up because they deserve it. This is what a MODEL should be. They serve their communities in the most generous fashion. This job is a calling and it’s often torture. We do it because we care about each other and our communities. These women are strong and beautiful in every way a woman should be. They deserve to be celebrated and that’s what I am going to do. Women will never truly get the respect they deserve due to other women acting like fools. It’s not sexualizing our jobs. It’s feeling like a woman because often times we don’t. We are dirty and sweaty wearing the same clothes as the person next to us. I am just here to celebrate these women and make them feel beautiful. Not all women are that way. We are here to show that women can support other women. It drives me crazy to go on a 500 lb woman in a swimsuits post to see a million likes and comments. These women are in there by the thousands rooting her on. Telling her how beautiful she is and how they love her confidence. They love her because they are not threatened by her in the slightest. Where are those women for us? When I take pictures of these women they are not all confident. We are building that confidence. The arrogant overconfident ones don’t last long with us because we are all self critical and self conscious in wild ways. Getting to show these women how beautiful they are is why I love this job. We bring in photographers, makeup artist, and videographers to bring out compliment every stitch of beauty these women have in them. They need that confidence boost and they deserve it. They are often alone within themselves just as much as a 500 lb woman. Yet, this group of condemning women can’t see that. They are too busy clicking, “do not show me this, ” so they don’t have to be green with envy and hate. It sad and it will hold women back. Men don’t do that like women do. That’s our ultimate weakness if you ask me. I know more than any woman what fighting back jealousy and hate on the regular feels like. It’s just in most of us. Controlling my inner bitch is what makes me good at my job. I don’t compare myself to the girls I pick. I can’t, I am 47 years old. I can’t erase time or turn it back. It’s hard to hire your replacements or bring in women around you that you feel may be more attractive or have better personalities. I just need to remind myself and others, none of us are perfect and everyone likes something different. I am not judging the 500 lb woman, I want to help her get healthy. I already know how many First Responders she will cripple in her lifetime when she can no longer get up on her own. I don’t want that to be what we praise. Accept yes, praise to the point of enabling…NO! I will not hire a woman I will not work next to. Weak women cause injuries to others. When one person can’t carry their weight, someone else has to. When trying to get someone out of a ravine, the last thing we need to do is stop 6 times so a crew member can rest because they are out of shape. They call it morbid obesity for a reason. I am going to promote healthy, strong, fit, intelligent, and driven women because that’s what it takes to do this job right! One of my biggest hurdles has been getting women to support us. I’m changing for the better but some of them are not.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a Flight Paramedic, Tactical Paramedic, Model, and President of Firehouse Dolls. I specialize in critical care medicine. I find myself at my peak when I am shuffling a ventilator, blood, balloon pump, and 5 drips.
I am known for being a badass. I am an instructor and I am always working on my knowledge base to keep my patients at the top level of care they can get. I have survived through a lot of crap in my life, but I use all of that to push me forward.
I am most proud of my kids. They have had to grown up differently because of my profession.
I am set apart by others because of my entertainment value. I am an ADHD kid so my impulses can be pretty entertaining in themselves. I have always been amazed by science and facts. If I don’t know something I have to look it up. I want everyone around me to be happy, it’s what I thrive off of. So I am always entertaining people, wether I am meaning to or not. I am Native American and have a different view than most people I have met. Being a comedian of sorts, helps me relate with people to learn about them. I enjoy being different and learning about others differences. That’s what makes life fun. Making fun of how weird we all are is my passion!
What’s next?
I am looking forward to our education incentives and classes we are about to launch. I am hoping to continue to show people how amazing these women in Fire and EMS are. Very honored to be the leader of such an awesome team of girls.
We are launching our subscription site. Which means traveling and capturing all the fun with Firehouse Dolls.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.firehousedolls.com
- Instagram: firehouse.dolls
- Facebook: facebook.com\firehousedolls
- Twitter: dustydawn911
- Youtube: dustydawn911
Image Credits
Sterling Steves and Glen Usedin
