‘Here, go put it out!’: Darlene Singer-Haswood, first Diné female firefighter ‘daring’

TWIN LAKES, N.M. – Darlene Singer-Haswood was the first female firefighter for the Navajo Nation Fire Department of Fire and Rescue Services.

Singer-Haswood, 60, is indisposed, but her sister, Charlene Singer, and her nephew, Michael Singer, are honoring her life through stories and her service to the Navajo Nation.

Singer-Haswood was born on Sept. 29, 1963, to Charles Singer and the late Mattie Singer from Nazlini, Arizona, and Shiprock, respectively. She is Tł’ógí and born for Tódích’íi’nii. Her maternal grandfather is Táchii’nii, and her paternal grandfather is Honágháahnii.

She has four children: Michelle Kirk, Kimberly Pacifico, Victor Iyua Jr., and Nicole Bitsilly.

To ensure Singer-Haswood would be honored, Charlene contacted the Navajo Nation Fire Department’s fire captain, John Williams, to request an escort when she passes.

Williams confirmed the escort, and the fire department is on “stand by” to honor Singer-Haswood and her family.

Fire training, returning home

Singer-Haswood’s family says their fighter has years of accomplishments.

At 13, Michael was inspired by his aunt volunteering as a Navajo Pine Volunteer Fire Department firefighter.

Singer-Haswood started her fire career in the 1980s, according to Michael. She earned numerous training certificates and state fire certifications and graduated from the Tucson Fire Department Training Academy, formerly Arizona Fire Academy, in Tucson.

She returned home to the Navajo Nation in 1990. She volunteered at the Ganado Fire District in Ganado, Arizona, for about a year, after which she transferred to the Navajo Pine Volunteer Fire Department, where she earned a “valuable volunteer award.”

Michael volunteered with her there until he was 18.

“She learned a lot from that,” Charlene said, admiring her sister’s ability to overcome the challenges of becoming a firefighter.

“She was always the daring type,” Charlene said.

Charlene believes that inspired her sister to become a volunteer firefighter for the Nation. Her mentors were the late Eugene G. Atcitty, who served as the fire captain, and former Fire Chief

Dicky Bain. Atcitty and Bain worked for the Navajo Nation Fire Department and Rescue.

Becoming familiar with fire

Singer-Haswood’s first structure fire was in Sawmill, Arizona, in 1986, according to Michael.

“It was the very first time she had gone out,” he said. “When they (firefighters) got there, (the house) was fully engulfed.

“The fire captain at the time threw the hose at her and said, ‘Here, go put it out,’” Michael said. Singer-Haswood grabbed the hose tightly, how she was trained, and ran the hose to the house. Her teammate “charged the line.” She felt hard pressure and weight on the hose, according to Michael.

With only three firefighters responding to the call that day, “she put the whole thing out by herself,” Michael said of his aunt. “I believe that was her defining (moment) for her, like, ‘You know what? I can do this.’”

After that moment, Michael believed it was when her crew embraced her more and accepted her as part of the crew.

“At the time, there was less than one percent of all females were actually firefighters worldwide,” Michael said. “She was part of that number.

“Having done that and be able to be in that top one percent, the fire department never lowered the standards and passed the same standards the men had to pass,” he said.

Roughly 40% of men who tried out to be a firefighter failed, according to Michael.

“She had to bypass 40 percent,” he said. Knowing that she showed how determined and passionate she was about being a firefighter because women were not predominantly supposed to be in a position that was a specific “gender role.”

Being a firefighter was a man’s job, said Michael. But she had the same expectations as the men and pulled through.

When Singer-Haswood was not on call, she delved into her interests and hobbies of baking and cake decorating, earning a certificate of merit from the Wilton Method of Cake Decorating course in 1982. Her other hobbies include macramé’, reading, beadwork, and traveling.

Close-knit family

Charlene said she and her sister were close to their mother, who passed on in 2022.

“We did a lot of things together,” Charlene said. The siblings are from a small family.

Singer-Haswood attended Window Rock High School in Fort Defiance. But after 11th grade in 1980, she withdrew from school. Several years later, in 1987, she returned to the classroom to obtain a GED diploma. She attended college for two semesters – one at Pima Medical Institute in Albuquerque in 1988 and one at Tempe Tech in Tempe, Arizona, in 1989.

Although Singer-Haswood’s health took a turn, her sister and nephew have visited her almost daily and reminisced about their time on the road together.

“We went to Disneyland one time,” Charlene explained. “The fun things we did there, the rides we rode.”

Traveling across the country with Singer-Haswood is what her family will miss the most because traveling allowed the sisters to talk about their childhood, late mother, and plans.

One of their “best” trips, Charlene says, was a trip to Colorado. “We spent time in Durango,” she said. “We drove to Mesa Verde––and just talked about our childhood, our mom.”

Singer-Haswood’s health is declining. Medical doctors told her she had four years to live. Michael believes it is because of his aunt’s strong will to live.

“I always know her as my aunt, my mom,” Michael said about his aunt. “I admired her even more in what she was doing.

“I was always at her house,” he said. “I always had a good relationship with her.”

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