Mom fights fires

It’s the middle of the night. The house is silent with the parents fast asleep, along with their three boys ages 4 and younger, including one with special needs.

Then Stephanie Skinkis’ pager goes off. She springs into action, quickly getting out of bed and into some clothes, then hurries her way to the Belgium Fire Department, about a five-minute drive.

That, believe it or not, is her preferred time to answer calls on her part-time volunteer gig.

“Generally, the middle of the night is a good time. I have child care,” she said.

Skinkis joined the department last November and would have joined months earlier, but her husband John told her, “I don’t know if they’d take you, you’re seven months pregnant.”

It was John who wanted his wife to find some sort of activity away from the rigors of being a mother of a special-needs son, two other young sons and a part-time job.

“My husband told me I should get out of the house and do something once a week,” Skinkis said.

She likes to stay fit, but she said taking a fitness class is expensive and didn’t fit her schedule. The fire department was a better match.

“I really like working out and stuff and giving back to the community,” Skinkis said.

But she couldn’t just show up and start fighting fires and respond to medical calls. She took a 12-week class during winter in Kansasville in Racine County, making for 12-hour Saturdays. She also took four weeks of hazardous materials class on Thursday nights.

It was quite the education for Skinkis. She has no family history with fire or medical service. Her father is an engineer and mother is a teacher.

“When it’s no experience needed, they mean that. I had never been in a fire truck before,” Skinkis said. “When you look at recruiting new members, that’s what it is. We have a pretty wide variety of occupations and life paths.”

Fire Chief Pat Wester asked about claustrophobia during an interview with Skinkis when she expressed interest in joining. She was fine with that, but had to overcome a different fear.

During firefighter 1 class, students have to raise a 35-foot ladder and set a roof ladder. Skinkis is afraid of heights.

“I told the instructor I’d rather be in childbirth,” she said. “I don’t know if he found it funny.”

Skinkis found a way to climb tens of feet into the air. “I imagine my kids in this situation,” she said.

Skinkis manages volunteering with the department around her part-time job at a day-care center in Saukville, where she takes her three boys. Full-time work isn’t possible since her 3-year-old William was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a disease in which the body doesn’t produce enough protein to make muscles.

William received a one-time infusion Skinkis called “the most expensive drug in the world” for $2 million. His life expectancy was 2 without it. He also gets spinal injections every four months in Madison and twice a week gets physical therapy in New Berlin.

William can walk with a walker and sometimes uses a wheelchair. The family hopes to get a power wheelchair so he can keep up with his friends.

One in 6,000 children are born with SMA, 11 times more rare than Down syndrome, Skinkis said. Genetic testing is catching the disease earlier.

The disease does not affect cognitive ability, and Skinkis described William developing on pace as a 3-year-old. “Very very 3,” she said.

Skinkis’ interest in public service came on a mission trip. She has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice but changed her career course after spending six months in Tijuana, Mexico. There, she met a little girl whose family was living in America, divided by the border crisis.

The girl told her everything would be OK because the social worker would take care of it.

Skinkis went back to school and earned a master’s degree in social work. That translated well to joining the fire department.

“I’m kind of used to emergency response. I still get to have that part now,” she said.

Excited as she was to help, she didn’t always catch the truck in time to join calls.

“The first call I missed. I was nursing and put the kids to bed,” she said.

“I’ve learned to be quicker and make the truck. I have a huge fear of missing out. I make the ones I can and everyone is super understanding about it.”

She does have to overcome one challenge of rushing out of the house at 3 a.m.

“It’s kind of one of those, ‘I would never let anyone see me dressed like this,’” she said.

Wester said the department upholds its policy that family and work come first. He said Skinkis’ schedule allows for filling an important and often unpopular role.

“We have a lot of people who work during the day, so they prefer to stay sleeping. She’s been a great find for us since last November,” Wester said.

Skinkis, he said, is also an example of someone who wants to give back and can be an inspiration for others to join.

“So many times I hear that I don’t have the time for it,” he said.

Skinkis makes the time, but Wester said fire service is a family commitment.

“It’s not just Stephanie. It’s John and the kids who are making the sacrifice, too,” he said.

Skinkis said her husband, who has a traditional work schedule as an engineer, is “super supportive” and their boys love that mom is a firefighter.

“They’re very excited about it. It’s cool that they see that mom can be more than a mom,” Skinkis said.

The latest trend, she said, is “We’re very into hose. They pretend everything is a hose.”

The boys also know the knots firefighters must tie and quiz their mom while driving in the car.

Skinkis said each call so far has been an education.

“In some ways they all kind of stay with you. I’m still new enough that I walk away with something from each one,” she said.

She hopes to expand her learning this winter by taking emergency medical technician classes.

For information on joining the Belgium Fire Department, email joinbelgiumfd@gmail.com or call (920) 980-2522.