Mary Kwart: Wildland Fire Pioneer

This article was developed from three sets of primary sources: a series of essays that Mary Kwart wrote in 2020 describing her career in wildland fire management; an oral history interview conducted with Kwart in 2021 by Lu Ann Jones and Leah Baer of the National Park Service Park History Program; and a cache of photographs and documents from Kwart’s personal archive. These materials contribute to Women’s Voices: Women in the National Park Service Oral History Project, and will be archived at Harpers Ferry Center. A grant from the National Park Foundation made the project possible. Baer, a National Council for Preservation Education intern, wrote the article.

Mary Kwart came of age during the 1960s and 1970s, when feminist ideas inspired some young women to seek radically new career possibilities. Kwart was among them. She combined a spiritual connection with nature and a respect for and fascination with fire to become a wildland firefighter. In the early 1980s she was among the first women to join the Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots, an elite National Park Service crew, stationed at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California. Throughout her life, Kwart defied gender stereotypes to create new spaces for herself and for future generations of women in land management agencies.

Early Years

Kwart was born and raised in California. Her appreciation of nature stemmed from annual family camping trips to Yosemite National Park. During one hiking trip at Yosemite at about the age of 10, Kwart spotted a solo female hiker and knew right then she wanted to be like her. Kwart’s initial interest in forest fires emerged while she was attending a summer camp in southern California. A fire forced the campers to evacuate. While the fire scared and alarmed her fellow campers, it intrigued Kwart. In 1971 she ventured out on her first solo backpacking trip from Berkeley to Yosemite with a pound of sunflower seeds and a pound of raisins stuffed inside a $5 Boy Scout pack to keep her fed and a cotton sleeping bag to keep her warm. About this time Kwart committed herself to the burgeoning feminist movement and to spirituality.

Mary Kwart: Spiritual Growth

In an oral history interview, Mary Kwart describes her experience in nature.

Credit / Author:
NPS Park History Program

Date created:
05/10/2021

KWART: When I started backpacking when I was really young, I was looking for--it was like in the ‘70s, so a lot of people were concerned with alternative spiritual experiences. I’d always liked being outside and being alone in nature. I felt that that was conducive for spiritual growth, and so that’s why I sought out being in nature and backpacking.

Mary Kwart: "Committed to a feminist vision of my life"

In an oral history interview, Mary Kwart remarks on her commitment to a feminist vision of her live that took shape in the 1970s, even before her position with the Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots.

Credit / Author:
NPS Park History Program

Date created:
05/10/2021

KWART: In the ‘70s, I had started reading feminist books. You know, like Sisterhood is Powerful, and Simone de Beauvoir. I was reading all these books about feminism, and I was really committed to a feminist vision of my life. I was really committed to it.

Before long, Kwart was headed down a career path new for women. In 1977 she secured a job as a seasonal firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. After working with the USFS and later the Bureau of Land Management, in 1982 Kwart believed she had enough experience to apply for a position with the newly established Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots. The crew agreed.

Culture of the NPS Arrowhead Interagency Hotshot Crew

Candidates for the elite hotshot crew had to pass a series of physical fitness tests. The test standards reflected male models of fitness by focusing on upper body strength. All crew members had to complete seven pull-ups. Kwart initially struggled to reach this standard, and she spent most of the off-season training to increase her pull-up count. Passing what was known as a step test was another requirement.

KWART: For an entry-level firefighter there was a 40-hour course and you had to pass a step test in the 1980’s--walk up and down a step of a certain size to the beat of a metronome. Then your pulse was taken and had to be below a certain level on a chart. This was bad for women who have higher heartrates than men even when they are fit. There used to be only one size step. Then they finally developed a woman’s step that was lower than a man’s step. I always had a hard time passing the step test despite being in good shape. One trick to make your heartrate slow down was to hold your breath as your pulse was taken. I dread to think of the strain this put on my heart. Now the physical test is a fast walking test with a 45 pound pack—you have to walk 3 miles in 45 minutes. Passing the pack test was fairly easy for me because I was used to carrying a backpack when I hiked.

Mary Kwart: Hotshot Strength and Endurance

In an oral history interview, Mary Kwart describes the fitness requirements when she was on the hotshot crew and the differences between strength and endurance in firefighting.

Credit / Author:
NPS Park History Program

Date created:
05/10/2021

KWART: When we were on the hotshot crew, we had to do a minimum of seven pull-ups. And most of the men could do a lot more than that. But upper body strength was not my forte. I managed to eke out seven pull-ups by training an amazing amount in the wintertime. Just training, training, training, training. For most women, your strength is in your core and your legs. Which actually, some of the standards for firefighting physical fitness had nothing to do with whether you could work, you know, do a 24-hour shift or whatever. It was all just built on male models of physical fitness. And at that time, the male model of physical fitness was upper body strength doing pullups. Things may have changed now, I don't know. It was the same with structural fire. Upper body strength so you could haul people away from fire situations and stuff.
When they really do research on the kind of strength that’s needed, it’s really endurance. Which women excel at, and which I excelled at, thank God. So at the end of--we were doing 24-hour shifts back then. It was an experiment in firefighting. So I would find that at the end of a 24-hour shift, I was still going pretty strong, and a lot of the men that had upper body strength were crapping out. I mean, they were getting really tired, because their strength was a different kind of strength than my strength. So, I was really happy that I was suited to that kind of activity, which was really important for fighting fire.

As one of the first women to venture into the firefighting profession in the National Park Service, Kwart knew she was setting an important precedent. If she failed, she might set back opportunities for other women. She had to prove that women could do dangerous and challenging jobs. There was little room for error.

KWART: In the early ‘70s, there was no one. When I first started firefighting, there was no other women firefighters that I knew. There was no one at supervisory levels, and there was no one—I had some contemporaries on the crew that were the same level as I was. But there was nobody for us to model on or anything. We were just doing it basically because we loved doing the job. So there really wasn’t anybody there at that time.

Mary Kwart: "I can't fail because I'm representing all women"

In an oral history interview, Mary Kwart voices the burden of being the only women in her position.

Credit / Author:
NPS Park History Program

Date created:
05/10/2021

KWART: I was really acutely aware of, that what I was doing, I was a representative for all women because I was the only one. It was not fair, really, but there was a big burden. Whoever is the first of their, if they’re in a nontraditional working situation, whoever they are, you feel the burden on it if you’re the first. If you’re the very first. I mean maybe now it isn’t, I get the impression from people that are a lot younger than me is they don’t feel this burden. And they feel they can make demands for their work situation, stuff like that. But I could never feel that I could make demands. I would just have to have a stiff upper lip and then just do the best I could. So I was always saying, oh, I can’t fail because I’m representing all women.

Kwart enjoyed the camaraderie of the hotshots. Considered “the marines of firefighting,” hotshots had to be disciplined, prepared to respond at a moment’s notice, able to withstand smoke, grime, and fatigue without complaint. Bonds of respect grew from the dangers they faced together and their vow to take care of each other. A macho culture rooted in bravado permeated the crew. Crew members sang ribald songs to pass the time, and profanity laced virtually every sentence. The F-word was a favorite. Kwart adapted to the climate by joining in, telling colorful jokes, and peppering her language with curse words along with the best of them.

KWART: I used the F-word as much as anybody. I enjoyed using it. Although we were discouraged from using it when we were working around the public it slipped out. We were doing project work at the base of the Sequoia Grove near Swale Campground in Sequoia National Park where we were stationed. I slipped up and called out, “Hand me that F—ing shovel." Some older women were passing by and I heard them say, “What a nice looking girl, but such a terrible mouth.”

However, when male crew members started singing racist and sexist lyrics, Kwart drew the line. She refused to participate and convinced the supervisor to ban the songs.

Spiritual Connection to Fire

In addition to furthering the cause of gender equality in non-traditional careers, firefighting and being outdoors served as an extension of Kwart’s spiritual practice. Raised a Catholic, Kwart became a Zen Buddhist after an extensive period of reading and reflecting about its values. She took her need for spiritual practice seriously. Oddly enough, the act of firefighting—specifically, the unwavering attention and all-consuming focus that it required—allowed Kwart to enter into a state of mindfulness. Through this relationship with fire, she came to view herself like a “firefighting monk.”

Mary Kwart: Finding Mindfulness and Right Livelihood in a Fire Career

In an oral history interview, Mary Kwart describes the relationship between foundations of Buddhist practice and her firefighting career.

Credit / Author:
NPS Park History Program

Date created:
05/10/2021

KWART: The fire career, I saw that I could be out in nature and while I was actually out in nature, I was doing a good deed for the society. I was doing something good. But that was a good combination, I thought. I just liked being quiet and being alone out in nature. When I did get more into Buddhist practice, I was really interested in ways to maintain mindfulness at a moment-to-moment level. Because you’re talking about foundational Buddhist practices. I noticed that when I was on fires, I was totally in the moment. Because it’s hard to not be concentrating on where you are when you’re on a fire. Whereas in maybe normal, everyday life, you’re thinking about lots of things and there’s not the immediacy of the job of fighting the fire. So, I thought that that was really good for spiritual practice because it was a tool to be more mindful. And I was also able to do, have right livelihood, which is one part of the eightfold path in Buddhism-- right livelihood, which is like doing good things, you know. Like being a nurse or a doctor or something like that. So that was good for that, too.

Conclusion

Kwart went on to build a 30-year career in fire management and fire science with several federal agencies before retiring in 2007. The hotshot years were a defining moment. She proved that women could succeed in a career that demanded strength, stamina, and smarts—when they were given a fair chance.

A Story Map

Mary Kwart: Wildland Fire Pioneer

Additional Resources

Additional Resources on female firefighters in the federal government, hotshot crews, and fire management:

USFS. Fire Terminology.

Hale, Philip E. and A. Sydney Johnson. “The Historical Foundations of Prescribed Burning for Wildlife: A Southeastern Perspective.”

USFS. The National Interangency Hotshot Crew Steering Committee. “Hotshot Crew History in America.”

NPS. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots Celebrate 30 Years of Service.

NPS. Wildland Fire Fact Sheet.The Women Before Me: The Pioneering Women of the Zigzag Hotshots.

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