City’s First Female Battalion Chief Now Recruiting Next Generation of Women Firefighters

Battalion Chief Jodi Slicker, the first woman to hold that rank in the Pasadena Fire Department’s 139-year history, is coordinating the department’s 2nd Annual Women’s Fire Academy on April 11-12, with registration closing March 20.

Fire Chief Chad Augustin recognized Slicker during Women’s History Month. Slicker’s 2025 promotion to Battalion Chief caps a 19½-year career in which she rose from firefighter to one of the department’s senior leaders overseeing daily operations.

Women represent roughly 6% of the Pasadena force — 10 of 164 staff members as of early 2024 — compared with approximately 9% of firefighters nationally, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Slicker joined the department in 2006 as a firefighter, obtained her paramedic license in 2009, and was promoted to captain in 2016. She was only the second woman to reach that rank; Tricia Rodriguez became the department’s first female captain around 2010.

In 2023, Slicker became the first woman named “Firefighter of the Year” by the department. During the January 2025 Eaton Fire, she was the captain on duty, dispatching emergency calls.

“I dispatched 500 calls in 24 hours,” Slicker said in an interview with Pasadena Magazine.

Slicker shared that she feels honored to hold the position of Battalion Chief, adding that she is guided by faith and is committed to serving, according to a city newsletter. She hopes to honor the women who came before her by continuing to serve the community with faith and purpose.

The upcoming free, two-day academy operated in coordination with the Glendale Fire Dept. will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pasadena Fire Department Training Facility, 1500 E. Villa St. It is open to women 18 and older — an expansion from last year’s 18-to-25 age range. Participants train in hose handling, ladder raises, forcible entry, search and rescue, and emergency medical procedures. The inaugural joint academy in April 2025 drew 45 women.

Registration is required at Bit.Ly/WomensAcademy26. For more information, contact the Pasadena Fire Department at (626) 744-4668 or visit cityofpasadena.net/fire.

“If we can capture two, three, four recruits or participants and actually hire them, I think that’s a success,” Slicker said in the 2025 Pasadena Now interview. “If we just uplift them and empower them.”