EASTHAM — Lisa Albino joined the Eastham Fire Dept. as a call firefighter in 1986. Now she is set to become the department’s next chief, and she’ll be making history by doing so. Albino will be the first female fire chief on Cape Cod following Dan Keane’s retirement on Sept. 6.
“It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is,” said Town Manager Jacqui Beebe, who appointed Albino last month.
When Albino entered the ranks, the department had only eight firefighters. She was fresh out of college with a nursing degree and didn’t think she would last more than five years. “But then I got my paramedic’s license, and that’s all she wrote,” Albino said.
Albino will be heading a department that has grown to 22 firefighters; it fields roughly 2,500 calls per year. “A lot has changed in the fire service since I started, from equipment to the way we fight fires,” Albino said. “I just want to keep us on the cutting edge.”
With 37 years of experience under her belt, Albino is the longest-serving employee in the department. She has rarely strayed far from Eastham. Albino’s family moved here when she was three. She attended Nauset Regional High School before receiving her nurse’s certificate from Cape Cod Community College. “I started working here two days after graduation,” she said.
Albino said she doesn’t want her gender to overshadow her accomplishments in the department, where she has held every rank over the years. She was promoted to captain in 2010 and became deputy chief in 2022 when Keane was appointed chief.
“She is the superior candidate, by far the best choice to continue the department,” Keane said. Keane is retiring after 32 years of service, including 17 in Sandwich before moving here.
Albino will become the ninth woman to be appointed fire chief in the state, according to the Mass. Dept. of Fire Services. The first was appointed in 2008 in Goshen. “Anecdotally, we are seeing more women enter the fire service in the past decade and certainly more in recent years,” said the agency’s chief information officer, Jake Wark.
When the National Fire Protection Association first began keeping track of demographics in 1983, there were 1,700 women working in fire service, accounting for just one percent of firefighters nationwide. In 2020, the number of women working as firefighters had risen to 89,600 or roughly 9 percent.
Of over 22,000 fire chiefs currently employed in the U.S., approximately 6 percent are women, according to the nonprofit Women in Fire.
Albino knows the importance of encouraging gender diversity in the fire service. She is the co-director of Camp Fully Involved, a summer firefighting retreat for women ages 14 to 20. For a week every summer, campers are trained at the New Hampshire Fire Academy on self-contained breathing apparatus, hose handling, car fires, ladder operations, and forcible entry.
“They get a little piece of everything,” Albino said. “We want to show these young ladies that they can also work in the fire service.”
“Women have proved their worth in all industries, including the male-dominated fire service,” Keane said. “It’s an exciting time for her; it’s an exciting time for Eastham. And it’s an excellent example for young women looking for a career path.”
According to Beebe, the town will be conducting an internal and external search for Albino’s replacement as deputy chief. As for the process behind Albino’s appointment, Beebe, who as town manager has the authority to appoint the fire chief, simply asked her if she wanted the job. “Thankfully, she said yes,” Beebe said.
It’s a difficult moment to head a fire department, Keane said. “A lot of things are changing socioeconomically that are making it more difficult,” he said.
“We have a lot of young employees who can’t afford to live here,” Albino said. “They are traveling a long way to come to work. It changes how we do things.” For example, the department can’t always rely on emergency callback and often turns to mutual aid.
According to Albino and Keane, the department has seen the departure of employees who find jobs closer to where they live. Of the 22-member department, only six live in Eastham, including Albino.
“Gone are the days that a local person works in the department,” Keane said. There are currently two open firefighter positions, Albino said. “Our biggest asset is our personnel,” she added.
Albino’s longevity in the department and her ties to the town make the path forward clearer for a department grappling with the future of the fire service. “I’ve got a lot of institutional knowledge, and I also grew up in town and live in town,” Albino said. “I’m a vested citizen.”
