State Rep. Dacia Grayber, on Sept. 29, 2024 outside her Portland home, is the only firefighter in the Legislature where she’s worked to be their champion. (Rian Dundon/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
When Dacia Grayber was 10 years old, the chimney on her family’s home caught fire.
She watched in amazement as firefighters climbed onto the roof to put the fire out.
“I want to be a firefighter someday,” she told one.
She still remembers his reply.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she recalled him saying. “You can join the ladies auxiliary and bake cookies. Your brother can be a firefighter.”
But Grayber did become a firefighter and forged her own path, something that’s helped her as an Oregon state legislator. The way she sees it, reaching across the aisle as a lawmaker isn’t so different from discussing controversial subjects like abortion and gun control with male firefighters whose views are vastly different than hers.
“She is able to advocate in a meaningful way that is not threatening,” said Karl Koenig, president of the Oregon firefighters union. It’s “a gift that not a lot of people have.”