'I tried twice as hard because I wanted to prove I'm capable'

"There's times when I probably did try twice as hard as a man because I wanted to prove, not only to everybody else but to myself, I'm capable of this," Sophie Green says.

In 1993, Sophie, from Wakefield, was 20 years old and "at a crossroads" in her career.

She loved the physical demands and outdoor nature of her job working with horses, but wasn't sure if it was what she wanted to do longer term.

Picking up a copy of the Yorkshire Post one day, a job advert by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service piqued her interest.

Requirements included being of "good character" and at least 5ft 6in (1.68m) but no taller than 6ft 4in (1.93m) "without footwear".

Sophie applied, got accepted, and after a gruelling 12-week training course, she joined the force in 1994 as one of only a handful of female firefighters at the time.

The recently-retired 53-year-old says she feels "very lucky, very privileged that I spent 32 years of my life protecting people of West Yorkshire".

She currently holds the accolade of WYFRS's longest-serving female officer.

Over the last three decades Sophie has seen a great deal of change within WYFRS, from equipment upgrades to the more unusual - a haircut rule change.

In the 1990s, hair had to be "clear of the collar" which meant committing to a radical chop, Sophie explains.

"I looked like 14-year-old boy when I joined," she jokes.

"It was basic health and safety. And because 99.9% [of firefighters] were male, they naturally had their hair short anyway because they were training."

Working in a male-dominated field was something that Sophie says she "was not concerned about" but was conscious of as her "own worst critic".

"I felt like I had to work harder. I knew people would be keeping their eyes on me just because I was different," she says.

In her early years of career she was a single parent, raising two young children and juggling shift patterns with the help of her family.

"The hardest thing was when I'd have a busy night shift and come home when the children were not at school," she laughs.

"I remember praying for them to have a nap in the day."

It wasn't unusual for the collective family bedtime to be just before 20:00 BST, just so Sophie could catch up on some sleep.

Sophie worked her way up to become the first female watch manager in West Yorkshire, and then the only female assistant district commander in the region.

Each team she's worked with has had a sense of camaraderie unique to a fast-paced and often highly stressful job, she says.

"You're giving 110%. You can't give any less because you can't achieve your task.

"You need to be able to be open and honest and potentially quite vulnerable with your colleagues, because there could be an instance - and there has been - where they could be saving your life because of the situation that you're in."

Alongside numerous significant and challenging moments in Sophie's career, there have been others that have presented an altogether more unique predicament.

Last year, she coordinated the rescue of Spider, her identical twin's 26-year-old horse, from a manure heap.

The team "did an amazing job" she says, and Spider was none the worse for his smelly ordeal, if a little dirty and confused.

She also appeared on the BBC Two series Yorkshire Firefighters in 2021, which followed WYFRS officers on the job using bodycam footage.

Although she retired last month, Sophie's next roles will still be public facing - in a very different capacity.

She says she's "really looking forward" to being a wedding registrar and a fitness consultant at Wakefield Council, as well as spending time holidaying with her family.

Her husband still works for WYFRS - they first met at work - so she still feels as though she has a direction connection to her old employers.

Reflecting on her decision to reply to the job advert all those years ago, Sophie says she had relatively few criteria for what her dream career would look like.

"I wanted a job where I was going to help people, and I've certainly done that in so many different ways.

"It's about us all coming together and working together to get the best outcome every time."

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