For Immediate Release

Friday, May 11, 2018

Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: ben@jgpr.net

Attleboro Fire Department Swears In New Firefighter

Kelsea LeBlanc Now the Second Active Female Firefighter at the Department

ATTLEBORO — Chief Scott T. Lachance is pleased to announce that Attleboro Firefighter Kelsea L. LeBlanc was sworn in during a ceremony at City Hall this week.

Firefighter LeBlanc was sworn in by Mayor Paul Heroux on Monday, May 7. She has been assigned to the B Shift at department headquarters on Union Street, where she will work on the Rescue 1 ambulance and dispatch.

Firefighter LeBlanc is the third woman to be sworn in as an Attleboro firefighter and is now one of two active female firefighters on the department.

Firefighter LeBlanc, age 23, is an Attleboro native and graduated from Attleboro High School in 2013. In 2014, she volunteered with the department doing EMS work with Deputy Chief Timothy Birch. It was this experience that led her to want to pursue a career in the fire services.

She attended Fitchburg State college where she was an on-call first responder, and continued on to work as an EMT for an ambulance company out of Woburn, Saugus and Arlington.

In 2015, Firefighter LeBlanc enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve as a combat medic and is still currently an active duty servicewoman.

“I’ve always wanted to be able to give back to my community and help people at home,” Firefighter LeBlanc said. “It means a lot being one of only two women on the department. It was a similar situation when I joined the military. I’ve always loved challenging things. I would never want to be an office worker. Hopefully younger girls who want to do a career like this will see that it is possible.” 

Firefighter LeBlanc is currently enrolled in paramedic school and is expected to complete the program in October. After that, she will attend the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy.

“Kelsea came to work for us after high school as a volunteer,” Chief Lachance said. “It’s great to see her back here and achieving her goal of working for her hometown fire department. Her EMS and military experience will be valuable to our department and I wish her the best going forward.”

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