Molly Williams While we continue to honor fi re service women during Women's History Month, today lets take a trip back to the 1800's in New York City. It's widely accepted that the very fi rst woman to serve as a fi re fi ghter was named Molly Williams...even though it was not by her choice. You see, Molly was black and a slave. Her master/owner, a wealthy man named Benjamin Aymar, was a member of the city's volunteer fi re force and would take Molly (his slave) with him to the fi rehouse. This was Oceanus Engine Company 11 in Lower Manhattan. Molly was expected to clean the fi rehouse, cook meals, and keep the heavy water pump maintained as well. She became quite interested in the equipment and made it a point to learn how it functioned and how to operate it. The water pump was quite heavy and it took several strong men to pull it through the streets of New York to the location of a fi re when it was needed. As the story goes, Molly was responsible for taking care of Aymar's eight children at his residence as well as her duties caring for the men at the fi rehouse. It was in 1818 when Molly Williams was at the fi rehouse with Aymar tending to several of the fi re fi ghters who were quite ill with the when it was needed. As the story goes, Molly was responsible for taking care of Aymar's eight children at his residence as well as her duties caring for the men at the fi rehouse. It was in 1818 when Molly Williams was at the fi rehouse with Aymar tending to several of the fi re fi ghters who were quite ill with the While we continue to honor fire service women during Women’s History Month, today let’s take a trip back to the 1800s in New York City. It’s widely accepted that the very first woman to serve as a firefighter was named Molly Williams...even though it was not by her choice. You see, Molly was black and a slave. Her master/owner, a wealthy man named Benjamin Aymar, was a member of the city’s volunteer fire force and would take Molly (who was his slave) with him to the firehouse. This was Oceanus Engine Company 11 in Lower Manhattan. Molly was expected to clean the firehouse, cook meals, and keep the heavy water pump maintained as well. She became interested in the equipment and made it a point to learn how it functioned and how to operate it. The water pump was quite heavy and it took several strong men to pull it through the streets of New York to the location of a fire when it was needed. As the story goes, Molly was responsible for taking care of Aymar’s eight children at his residence as well as her duties caring for the men at the firehouse. It was in 1818 when Molly Williams was at the firehouse with Aymar tending to several of the firefighters who were ill with the deadly flu. The alarm sounded, but the men were all too sick to respond to the fire.
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