Quogue woman earns rookie firefighter of the year honor

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At 5 feet 3 inches, Brenda Selden might be a little shorter than some of the other firefighters with the Quogue Fire Department. Still, she stressed that her size is never an issue when battling a blaze.

“They were just thrilled to get an able-bodied person,” Ms. Selden said of the department to which she has belonged for nearly two years.

The Quogue resident, who tries to run about 70 miles a week, boxes and lifts weights in her spare time, has no trouble measuring up to her male counterparts in the 62-member department. That is the main reason why, when it came time to name Quogue’s Rookie Firefighter of the Year, the chiefs unanimously selected Ms. Selden for that honor.

“It was her dedication and her desire to learn a new trade,” said Quogue Fire Department Chief Chris Osborne.

Ms. Selden, who is one of only two women in the entire fire department, is the first woman to earn the department’s Rookie Firefighter of the Year Award. Fellow female firefighter Arlene Jahlenka was named the department’s Firefighter of the Year in 2008.

Chief Osborne explained that all female firefighters have to go through exactly the same training as their male counterparts. “They are held to the same standards,” he said.

He added that Ms. Selden’s small stature has not proven problematic when answering a call. She has entered burning buildings, worked the fire hydrant and handled the hose in her short time with the department, though she remains modest about her accomplishments.

“Your adrenaline just goes,” Ms. Selden said. “Your training kicks in and you just do it.”

Chief Osborne, who is also Quogue Village’s ordinance inspector, noted that while volunteers are required to respond to only 10 percent of fires each year, Ms. Selden has gone above and beyond, responding to about 70 percent of the village’s alarms since becoming a member.

“It’s a little easier for me,” said Ms. Selden, noting that she lives on Midland Avenue and only a few hundred feet away from the firehouse on Jessup Avenue.

Originally from New York City, Ms. Selden said she was a part-time village resident before moving to Quogue permanently a few years ago. She decided to move to the East End where her husband, Joel Breiter, lived year-round after she lost her job as a human resources executive with Time Inc.

Ms. Selden, who is 49, has since retired and now spends much of free time volunteering at the Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons in Hampton Bays and the Quogue Library, when she is not at the firehouse or responding to an alarm.

She said that joining a fire department was always in the back of her mind after a few of her coworkers lost relatives during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. “That’s what got the ball rolling,” she said.

The department’s rookie of the year explained that she was not treated differently from any of her fellow firefighters during training, a pattern that she said has continued at the Quogue firehouse. She added that her top physical shape made it easier for her to complete the required training when, in some instances, her male counterparts were having difficulty.

“I didn’t get treated very differently,” she said of both her fellow trainees and instructors. “They were very supportive.”

In addition to having the opportunity to save lives, Ms. Selden said she is enjoying the relationships that she has been building with some of her fellow volunteers, who are also her neighbors. “People really do care for one another,” she said.

Fire department officials announced that they had selected Ms. Selden for the Rookie of the Year award during their annual awards dinner, held last month at Trumpets on the Bay in Eastport. She explained that she was caught off guard when receiving the honor.

“It was kind of embarrassing,” Ms. Selden said. “I didn’t even know we had a Rookie of the Year.”