When Jessica Ann Worth talks about her job, you hear these words: “I’m a career girl” … “I love being challenged” … “This is my family here” … “I love the work we do” … “We never know what we’ll be doing next” … “One day I ended up with a baby in my arms.”

Jessica Worth

The Knoxville Fire Department (KFD) is happy she’s made Station 11 on Whittle Springs Road her home for the past five years. Worth is a Red Shift senior firefighter and paramedic, certified in swift water rescue and hazardous materials. Depending on staffing, you could see her at the wheel of Engine 11.

Battalion Chief Lonnie Glenn, based at Station 18, was heading up the KFD Training Center when Worth joined the department in 2020. Here are his thoughts on her: “Great young pro. Really smart and educated. The sky is the limit for her in the Fire Service.”

Worth is 35, a native of Chattanooga and one of only 12 female KFD firefighters. She came to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee, graduating in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. Currently, she’s working to earn a master’s in organizational leadership at Waldorf University in Iowa. She also was a member of the UT Rowing Crew team for four years, the same sport she enjoyed at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga.

Her crew at Station 11 includes Capt. James Davis, Master Firefighter Todd Naelitz and Firefighter Shane Parish. She and Parish share a bunk room at the station. “Our crew is family. We do our training together and we work out together. We eat breakfast and dinner together on every shift and we are first responders together.”

Worth’s first first-responder job was part-time, working at AMR Ambulances for two years before and while she has been at KFD. She also works part-time on ambulances for the Jefferson County Emergency Medical Service.

This package of energy packed in a 5-3 frame stays busy – every day. Her other job is at Armor Gym on Lexington Drive, where she’s been a certified personal trainer (CPT) for 7 ½ years, a job she dearly loves and enjoys. “And my crew at the station calls me their trainer too,” she said. “I’m very proud of that.”

During her classes to become a CPT, she was talking with her climbing instructor about jobs. He was a firefighter at Oak Ridge and the owner/operator of a stunt company, Caliber Stunts, and Worth worked some stunt jobs for him, mostly climbing. He suggested she’d make a good firefighter. She kept considering his idea and eventually applied to the KFD. “My grandfather was a firefighter in Michigan. Going in, I didn’t have many expectations. I did have some experience on the ambulances and being part of a crew,” she says.

“But I love the work we do, the people we meet and help. I like the preventative aspects of the job. Our leadership and community relations skills and medical knowledge are really important, being a representative of the community of health and safety. Today about 63% of our calls are medical and rescue calls, not fires.”

In the department of “Never Knowing What’s Next” she has assisted with the deliveries of three babies, one delivery involving twins. “We got a fire call one day and we delivered a baby boy outside on the driveway. I caught the little boy and Shane cut the cord (his first time doing that) and I rode in the ambulance with them,” she said. “Never dreamed I’d end up having a newborn in my arms.”

Then came the twins, literally. They were preemies. This time it was two girl babies. “She and her husband were already in the car when we got there and she’d already had one of the twins and we delivered the second one in the ambulance,” Worth said. “Mom and babies were fine.”

Asked about any dangers she’s experienced, she mentioned two.

“I’ve been part of some calls where we had basement fires and they are scary and a danger for us. The fire is usually below you and most basements have limited entries and exits and we have to be really careful,” she explained.

Her second danger is “hoarder houses” – like those you may see on TV when people save everything and anything and never throw away any of it. “You may not know it, but we have a lot of hoarders here that we see,” she said. “I’ve been inside my share of them and it’s really very sad. Men and women. With some people it’s a mental illness, or it’s a socio-economic illness. It’s a major sign of depression too. The houses have rooms with little narrow walkways to use. It’s a filthy environment that attracts rodents and insects.”

Studies and research by the American Psychiatric Association offers this about hoarders: Men are more likely to hoard than women, with the numbers being nearly twice as high for men, and men begin hoarding at younger ages. They’re also less likely to ask for help, which adds to the perception that more women are hoarders.

To protect the “innocent” we’ll not name the owner of this pun quote about her: “… She’s worth having around.”

Here is Worth talking about Worth: “I love being challenged and KFD is consistently mentally and physically challenging, keeps me motivated to always be pushing for improvement in my strength, training and education.”

And she uses this quote to define herself: “Self-discipline is freedom.”

Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email him at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.

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