ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – For Orange County firefighter Shannon Zielonka, saving lives is more than just a job.
“It takes a mindset as well. I can do everything these men can do, I just have to put my mind to it and I have to find the right technique,” she said.
Zielonka is one of only 11 female firefighters part of the department’s squad technical team, which means those members respond to hazmat and technical calls such as rope and collapse rescues.
“When no one else can really figure out what’s going on on a call, they call us. We have the resources so if it’s something that a typical engine, they need assistance on or guidance on, that’s when they call us. We go to a lot of the big calls and difficult calls,” Zielonka said.
Zielonka was only 23 when she became a firefighter but said life wasn’t easy. At age 8, she said her mother abandoned her in a hotel room.
Zielonka was shortly put in foster care before she was reunited with her biological father.
“It was hard to process. So I went through EMDR therapy, and it really, really, helped my coping mechanisms - not with just my childhood trauma but a lot of the trauma we see here, a lot of things we miss when we run these calls, is how to cope with these calls,” Zielonka said.
That conversation brought up her dog, Jake.
He’s a 4-year-old male doodle part of OCFR K9 therapy program.
Zielonka is his handler and said the two of them work together to help and relief stress for other firefighters after a rough day.
“They actually say that five to 12 minutes of just petting a dog reduces your stress,” Zielonka said.
Zielonka is also a mother of two children and said despite her childhood, she never gave up on her goals.
“Break those barriers, cause those barriers only exist in our head, do it, be mentally focused and you can overcome anything,” she said.
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