STEUBENVILLE — Laken Ward is stepping into big shoes.

She’s just the second woman to serve Steubenville as a firefighter. The first, Terri Kovach, retired 14 years ago as fire chief. If Ward is thinking that far ahead, she’s not saying, but given what she has accomplished so far, no one — including Ward herself — can rule it out.

“It’s exciting for me to be the first female firefighter in Steubenville for a long time,” she said. “It’s just exciting to be with this team and serve the community.”

Ward and her fellow “newbie,” Christopher Smith, were sworn in just a week ago. Smith, a North Carolina native, had lived and worked in Steubenville several years ago — long enough to “fall in love with the mountains” — before returning to the Piedmont area. He said it is what drew him back to Ohio.

“I’ve been trying to get back here because I really liked this area,” Smith said. “I remember the first time I drove across the Market Street Bridge, I fell in love with the city.”

Ward became a junior firefighter when she turned 14. Now 26 and a certified firefighter/EMT, she has spent the past six years fighting fires and helping the sick and injured on a part-time basis in the Hopedale community. She also balanced her fire department duties with her studies at Kent State University, where she graduated in 2022 with a degree in environmental conservation biology.

She is the fourth generation in her family to be a firefighter. Her father, Scott, has been a firefighter for 34 years, and his father and grandfather also served.

“My dad’s been doing this my whole life,” she said. “I’m just following in his footsteps.”

The Wards say firefighting gets in your blood, noting it’s not every day that’s different — “it’s every call.”

“It’s just something I grew up (with),” she said. “As a kid, I’d go to the firehouse all the time with my dad. It’s a difficult job but I wouldn’t want to do anything else. It’s different every day and I like helping people.”

She said she is not worried about being the only woman in what has, for the past 14 years in Steubenville, been a male-dominated department.

“I don’t feel like it’s going to be any different than what I’ve been doing. I know most of the guys, everyone’s been great.”

Smith said he has been a firefighter/EMT in North Carolina for the past two years.

“My dad started volunteering three years before I did,” he said. “I remember telling him I didn’t understand how he did it, running into a fire spinning out of control, but I found out it was my calling — I like making people’s day better and I like going on medical calls.”

Scott Ward said his best advice to both is to “be safe, that’s the biggest thing.”

“You have to have very good situational awareness, so you know what is going on around you,” he said.