Jan Cornett-Mendoza was one of the first female forest fire fighters to work for the California Division of Forestry in the summer of 1978. Females were allowed in the ranks of CDF in 1975 however few applied. By 1978 there were still only approximately 15 young women fighing fires for CDF. Jan Mendoza was one of these women and she was the very first woman to work at the Whitmore California CDF fire station. She tells a riviting and often humorous story of almost losing her life to a raging fire, having to share barracks with 7 other men who weren't too happy of her presence and adventures of working in this extremely dangerous and male dominated job.