The courageous individuals who occupy the “front line” believe in collective safety, for which they will risk their own. This month, as we express gratitude, we shine a light on Seacoast citizen Kayla Reno, firefighter and paramedic. We celebrate not only her courage, but also the grit of her journey and the community building that inspires her work.
For Reno, the call to become a first responder came at the young age of 14. The Rollinsford fire chief stopped in at the bank where her mother worked and described the “Explorer Post” program, which offers children the opportunity to go on calls and get a real sense of the day-to-day work of being a firefighter. When Reno heard about it, she jumped in.
As a ninth grader in Somersworth, Reno learned about the two-year fire service program at Dover High School through the Career Technical Center. Still too young to join, she continued her education with the Rollinsford Fire Department (RFD), and then took Firefighter 1 and EMT Basic courses in her junior and senior years. Based out of Liberty North End fire station, the fire service program offered continued exposure to an environment that captivated her. When she graduated from high school in 2014, Reno was officially a member of the RFD.
But the question hovered: What next? “I had learned that to be successful, you have to go to college. I didn’t want to go to college to be a firefighter,” she recalls, “because I already had the certs. But I loved the medicine part, so I considered nursing.” Reno enrolled at the University of Southern Maine, where she spent a year studying nursing and playing Division III softball.
That summer, however, another branch of her path opened. Using her EMT certification, she got a job as a technician in the Wentworth-Douglass Emergency Department. “I loved it,” she says, “But I hated the idea of being trapped in a hospital for 12 hours while knowing the freedom of being a firefighter.” She took the next year off from school, continued working at the hospital, and took an overnight job at a nursing home. In her off hours, she took Advanced EMT and Firefighter 2. She was hired by York Ambulance out of South Berwick and by Newington Fire Department. At age 20, she found herself working three jobs and earnestly building her skills, which were growing more advanced by the year.
Having decided not to return to nursing, Reno saw before her the next challenge: The Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT). This rigorous agility feat, which aims to simulate on-scene activity, requires individuals to demonstrate their strength in events like stair climbing, hose dragging, ladder raising, forced entry, and search and rescue. She first took the test at age 19, repeated it several times over four years, and finally passed.
The CPAT credential, as well as her others, afforded Reno the qualifications to seek career positions, a competitive process requiring the grit she had cultivated along the way. When Newington opened a full-time position, she applied and got it. With her sights set on the Dover Fire Department, she applied three times and was finally hired in 2020. Dover continues to be her home station.
Despite the excitement that continues to fuel Reno’s passion, she is careful to qualify that her calling is not entirely wrapped up in the adrenaline rush. “Yes, we are firefighters,” she says, “but it’s more than just helping people at their worst time on their worst day. When families have losses, we can support them so they can attempt to rebuild.” Last year she helped a victim of a fire, a woman who had known Reno’s grandmother. “In the fire there were sentimental items, lots of photographs. I pulled these things off the wall before they got destroyed, put them in a tote, and gave them to her. She reached out to me after and told me my grandmother would be so proud. That was a meaningful moment.”
Reno’s commitment to her community goes beyond emergency response. She also takes pride in her work as a board member of the Dover Firefighters Charitable Association (DFCA), a 501c3 that engages in fundraising to support those in need. The DFCA funds a toy bank, an effort that holds special significance for Reno. “We were recipients of a toy bank,” she says. “So, it’s special to be able to be on the other side of that now.” DFCA also works with Operation Warm, which provides winter coats for children in the community who are enduring poverty. Going above and beyond, Reno and other first responders provide invaluable support to their community, and inspire others.
When she goes to a call, it thrills Reno to see the face of a child light up when they see the fire truck—she gets it. Her team has been celebrated for their brave, generous actions. But amid outpourings of appreciation, she embraces humility. “We don’t like to recognize ourselves. I expect to do what needs to be done. I don’t like awards ceremonies. We just show up.”