“I felt like a band aid; I felt like I’d see these traumatic things happen, I’d see horrible things happen to people and I’d be with them for under an hour. I’d bond with them, I’d help them and then I’d drop them off for someone else to do the definitive care, and that began to feel rather limiting to me.”Wendy had always wanted to be a doctor, but when she left school early on in her undergraduate studies, she pushed aside that dream and pursued a career as a firefighter and paramedic. Seven years into her career, an experience with a young girl during a call stirred the fire and passion within her and put her back on the path to pursuing her dream. We discuss what her journey was like as a non-traditional applicant and student; how to make time to meet the application requirements with a full-time career and additional responsibilities, and finally, I ask her some of the burning questions we all want to know in regards to the fire service.