Sanders Announces the September Face of Arkansas

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders today announced the tenth installment of Faces of Arkansas, a monthly series highlighting Arkansans whose portraits and stories are displayed at the entrance to the Governor’s office as a reminder of who the Governor and her team serve every day: the people of Arkansas. The series was launched to keep the focus of public service rooted in the individuals and communities that make the state what it is.

Each month, a different Arkansan is featured through a written profile, portrait photography, and a short video, with their framed photo hanging inside the Capitol. Selections are based on individuals who make Arkansas function — whether by serving as the heartbeat of their local communities, overcoming obstacles to achieve their dreams, or playing an essential role in their industry. 

This installment features Melissa Peabody, a Fire Captain at Little Rock Fire Department, Station 2, who has spent two decades answering the call and protecting those when they need it most.

Captain Melissa Peabody – Heading In

Smoke billows out of windows. Ash falls from the sky. Bright orange flames engulf a building. Every instinct tells you to find the nearest door and get out. Then, somewhere in the distance, come the sirens.

A big red truck turns the corner, and firefighters step out already carrying 45 to 75 pounds of gear on their bodies. While everyone else is moving away from the danger, they are heading straight toward it. For most of us, calling 911 means help is on the way. For a firefighter, that call means the work is just beginning. For the last 20 years, Captain Melissa Peabody has answered it.

Fires, car wrecks, medical emergencies, river rescues — even a man stuck in a tree. Peabody has learned to expect just about anything when the tones sound at Little Rock Fire Station 2. “I wanted a challenge, and I definitely got it,” she said. “I wanted something that I wouldn’t be bored doing.”

Peabody grew up in the fire station. Her dad was a firefighter, and as a little girl, she would visit him at work. She remembers watching him sit around with the other firefighters, laughing and talking like a group of old friends. “I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s the job for me.’” What she didn’t see were the fires, the wrecks, the weight of the gear, or the calls that could turn a normal day into somebody else’s worst one, but would learn about those soon enough.

Peabody originally went to college for art, but she knew she wanted to stay in Arkansas. “This is my state,” she said. Then one day, she heard on the radio that the Little Rock Fire Department was looking for firefighters. She called her dad. “I don’t want you to do it,” he told her. But she did it anyway. This wasn’t the first time they had this conversation. Peabody had previously considered becoming a police officer. Her dad told her no then, too. By the time she suggested the fire department, she jokes, “He was like, ‘I cannot keep telling her no.’” In the end, she found a way to do a little bit of both. In July 2024, Peabody became a fire marshal, giving her the ability to investigate fires and make arrests in arson cases. It’s a side of the job that immediately clicked. “The investigation part is what makes me tick,” she said. His hesitation came from experience, knowing exactly how demanding the job could be, and his daughter would be entering a dangerous profession putting her life on the line time and time again.

Today, the Little Rock Fire Department has roughly 450 firefighters, but only 20 to 25 are women. At Station 2, she is the only one. “There have been a lot of doubts,” she said. “Twenty years of doubts.” Some came from other people, many came from herself.

Peabody’s dad is 6-foot-4, and growing up, she watched him make firefighting look easy. It isn’t. The gear is heavy, the heat is unforgiving, and once a call comes in, the job has to get done. For years, Peabody measured herself against the men beside her. Then one firefighter told her something she still remembers. “You’re never going to be as strong as us. That’s not the way your body is made.” For Peabody, a light went off. She stopped trying to do the job exactly like everyone else and started figuring out how to do it like herself.

She found her own way to accomplish the same task. She learned where she was strongest. And she discovered there were moments when being the only woman in the room wasn’t a disadvantage at all. On rescue calls, kids gravitate toward her. Women often feel more comfortable talking to her. And when the department gets a call involving a woman in labor, there is not much debate over who is going in.

“You’ve got to be able to really dig deep to get the job accomplished no matter what that looks like,” she said. For Peabody, that has meant finding her own way to do a physically demanding job. It has meant earning the confidence to lead an engine company as captain. And twice, it meant doing it while pregnant.

Peabody hid both of her pregnancies from her crew for four months. “I didn’t tell a soul,” she said. Part of it was practical. Coming off company meant transitioning to a traditional 40-hour light-duty schedule, and Peabody wanted to stay on her shift as long as she could. But she also knew exactly what would happen once the guys found out. “‘Let me lift that for you,’” she mimicked. She did not want anyone treating her differently.

Eventually, Peabody moved to light duty, where she continued working outreach and jobs in the department warehouse. She stayed on the job until a week before giving birth and came back quickly afterward, ready to return to the work she loved.

Her explanation for how she managed it is simple. “It’s only because of the grit,” she said. “It’s only because I’m stubborn.” Once she gets to the station, she makes the same mental shift she has made for 20 years. Someone else needs her. “When people call the fire department, that’s the worst day of their life,” she said. “When we show up, we’re there to help. We’re there to truly help.” That could mean walking into a burning house, responding to a car wreck or medical emergency, or launching a boat into the Arkansas River. Peabody once even responded to a call for a man stuck in a tree.

“My job is to protect life and property,” she said. “That involves my own, my crew’s and the public’s.” Firefighters are often called heroes for that. Peabody almost laughs at the word. To her, it is much simpler. “I don’t really have a tie to them, but I do have an obligation,” she said. She may know nothing about the person she is called to help. They may know nothing about her. But for however long it takes to get them through that emergency, Peabody treats them like family. And for someone who has spent two decades helping strangers, the people Peabody talks about most are the ones beside her.

Ask her favorite part of being a firefighter, and there is no hesitation. “My crew. My crew. Absolutely.” Maybe her childhood view of the fire station was not so wrong after all. She saw her dad sitting around with his friends, laughing and talking, and decided she wanted in. What she could not see yet was everything those friendships would have to carry — long shifts, hard calls, physical exhaustion and the responsibility of trusting the person beside you when things go wrong.

Twenty years later, Peabody is the parent at the fire station, and now her youngest daughter is watching. She comes to Station 2 and drags the training dummy around, climbs the ropes, and has even said she wants to become a firefighter. Peabody recognizes the tenacity immediately. “I know exactly how my dad feels now,” she said. After all those years of ignoring her own dad’s warnings, she also knows her daughter well enough to know how this might end. “She’s going to do it too.” If she does, she will start with something Peabody did not have 20 years ago: a woman who showed her exactly what it looks like.

Peabody can retire after 28 years with the department. She would like to stay another 10 after that, possibly moving into fire investigation or serving as a fire marshal when years of carrying heavy gear finally catch up with her. For now, Captain Peabody is still at Station 2, leading her crew, listening for the tones, and taking care of someone else’s family when they need her most. Because when the smoke starts billowing and the sirens start sounding, most of us are hoping to see that big red truck turn the corner.

We may never know the names of the people who step out of it. We may never know what they left behind at the station, or at home, to answer the call. We only know that on what may be one of the worst days of our lives, they came. For 20 years, Captain Melissa Peabody has been one of the people coming, and while the rest of us are looking for the way out, she is still heading in.

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