Median Salary: $18.43/hour
Education: High School diploma or equivalency, minimum
Growth Rate: 18-26 percent more jobs through 2014

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

The adrenaline-filled world of firefighters is fraught with challenges, stress and life-or-death situations; but women who battle blazes couldn’t see themselves doing something else.

"This job has allowed me to do and see some things that I would probably never have seen in any other profession,” says Lorraine Hutchinson, a San Diego fire battalion chief with 16 years of experience. "I had the opportunity to deliver a baby in the back seat of a car. The feeling of bringing a life into this world is indescribable."

Women in the Fire Service, Inc.—a national organization providing networking and resources for women in the fire services field—reported in 2005 that 6,161 women were active in career-level structural fire suppression in the U.S. That means that of the 353,000 firefighters across America, only approximately 1.75% are female. That number might seem discouragingly small, but the women who choose to become firefighters see the figure as a challenge, not a deterrent.