Harshini Kanhekar
India’s first fire-fighter woman
In a country like India where women’s association with fire is generally limited to the kitchen, Harshini wrote a new chapter by becoming India’s first female fire fighter and fire engineer. From driving a heavy duty truck to lifting and handling heavy equipments, there is nothing about this job that inhibits this daredevil lady.
Harshini earned the title of India’s first female fire-fighter nearly ten years ago. Ambitious from the start, Harshini applied to Nagpur’s National Fire Service College (NFSC) fresh from university. Little did she know that this was an all-male college. Yet Kanhekar was determined to overcome the initial obstacle. She wasn’t prepared to hear that ‘a girl cannot become a firefighter’. She went on to become the first and only woman in the college to graduate; later winning immense....
