Ground Zero’s female heroes

Like many others, Susan Hagen and Mary Carouba were bewildered watching news coverage of 9/11. But unlike most, the Northern California natives were especially perplexed by the lack of female faces among those of the many rescue workers who responded to the event.

So the pair — one a retired firefighter and the other an investigative social worker — took it upon themselves to tell the missing story of the many female firefighters, police officers, paramedics and others who served that day. Hagen and Carouba will talk about their book “Woman at Ground Zero” Thursday evening at Sage Hill School.

“We were acutely aware of the absence of women’s images when the stories of rescuers were presented by the media,” Hagen said. “We heard the media revert to words like ‘policemen,’ ‘firemen’ and ‘brave guys,’ when we don’t use gender-specific terms like that anymore and haven’t since the ‘70s.”

Their frustration and curiosity mounting by the day, Hagen and Carouba set out for New York City just weeks after the attacks, with neither funding nor credentials, to find the women they knew existed, though they did not know where.

After six months and hundreds of hours of interviews, they had compiled 30 stories of courage, horror and duty.

“There were journalists and authors from all over the world in New York at that time, and here were two hicks from California showing up with no credentials to speak of,” Carouba said. “But it was the strength of our passion and the force of our determination that ended up pushing the project through.”

Nearly five years since their book was published by Alpha Books and with more than 60,000 copies sold, the authors continue to tour the United States and Canada to share the recollections of the heroines they found and also their own story of determination and perseverance.

“We really talk a lot about following your dreams and moving ahead in the face of fear to achieve what’s important to you,” Hagen said. “It’s important for us that there are role models for young girls who want to seek out a career in public safety.”

With the help of the women featured in their book, Hagen and Carouba have established a scholarship fund at Santa Rosa Junior College for young men and women pursuing careers in public safety. Also, all profits from their book, which may be bought and autographed at Thursday’s event, are being donated to nonprofits facilitating the participation of women in fire services and law enforcement.