'I love helping people': Firefighting super mum ready to reach great heights

She wants to help people.

The senior firefighter from Blayney says she enjoys her job just as much now as she did when she was first coming through the ranks.

"No-one in my family was a firie or anything like that," said she, now based at the Bathurst's station since mid-December.

"The thought of doing a physical job that serves the community and has such a strong camaraderie base was just really appealing to me.

"I love the type of work, I love helping people. I'm definitely a people person.

"We see people who are having the worst day of their lives, so if we can make that just a little bit better for them, then it's a really rewarding experience.

"I love the physical kind of work as well; the high pressure situations. I'm a sucker for it.

"I guess I like the adrenaline.

"But it's really rewarding being able to help people when they're having a really bad day. I love doing that."

She joined the firies seven-and-a-half years ago and was initially stationed at City of Sydney.

"I was there for six months, then took a relieving firefighter position out of City of Sydney for 18 months," she said.

"From there, I moved to Gladesville Fire Station, and I was there for about five years.

"Two years ago, my husband and I and our son moved from the Northern Beaches out to the Central West."

Mrs Goodwin said she and her husband, a teacher, decided on a tree-change when a position came up at Canobolas High at Orange, where a former colleague of Mr Goodwin's was now working.

"I was pregnant, so I was working remotely anyway," she said of their move to live at Blayney.

"We came out here and my husband was head teacher wellbeing for a little while and then applied for a deputy position, so now Tristan is a deputy principal at Canobolas.

"We just kind of fell in love with the country.

"And I was lucky enough, when I was on mat leave [maternity leave with their daughter], I put myself down for a transfer to get out here, which normally can take some time, but I was lucky enough to get a transfer before I came back [from maternity leave].

"It all just kind of worked out."

There have not been many permanent women firefighters in this area before, according to Mrs Goodwin.

"So that's exciting," she said.

"But I've had a wonderful experience so far."

In March, Mrs Goodwin will be one of the Fire and Rescue firefighters taking part in the Beat The Burn charity challenge in the Snowy Mountains, doing everything from running and riding to hiking and paddling to raise money for a good cause.

For her part, Mrs Goodwin will hike 51 kilometres over three days across the dramatic ranges of the Snowy Mountains.

Money raised will be going to the Burns Unit at Westmead Children's Hospital.

"The money is utilised by the Burns Unit to conduct research and purchase expensive equipment and that sort of thing to support young burns survivors," Mrs Goodwin said.

"We also provide support for pain and scar management and then supporting families that are going through some really hard times with their kids.

"Kids being so young, when they have significant burns, it's a really long process: because kids are growing, their scars and that sort of thing are growing as well.

"So they need skin grafts and constant treatments over a long period of time."

The Snowy Mountains is a familiar stomping ground for Mrs Goodwin, who has been skiing and snowboarding since she was two and who once spent a season as an instructor at Perisher.

She has also climbed Australia's highest mountain many times.

"Actually, I was proposed to by my husband at the top of Mount Kosciuszko," she said.

"So it's a pretty special place for me."

Those who would like to donate to Genevieve Goodwin's Beat The Burn hike, and help the children at the Burns Unit at Westmead, can do so at beattheburn.org/genevieve-goodwin-holden/