Caroline Paul

Caroline Paul is an American author and former firefighter who has had a long and varied career. As a child, she was an avid reader and was fascinated by adventure stories, which inspired her to become a pilot. She attended Stanford University, where she earned a degree in English literature. She then served in the U.S. Air Force, where she was a navigator and flight instructor.

After leaving the Air Force, Paul was accepted into the San Francisco Fire Department in 1988. She was one of the first women to join the department and served for six years, during which time she earned several awards including Firefighter of the Year. After leaving the fire department, Paul became a writer, publishing her first book, Fighting Fire, in 1997. Her memoir recounts her experience as a firefighter and the struggles she faced as a woman in a male-dominated profession.

Paul has since published several other books, including East Wind, Rain in 2005, Lost Cat in 2007, and Gutsy Girls in 2009. She has also written several children's novels, including The Great Treehouse War in 2009 and The Great Escape in 2012. In addition to her writing, Paul has been active in advocacy for women in the fire service, co-founding the SF Firefighters Random Acts, a non-profit that supports the firefighting community. She has also taught wilderness survival courses, and serves as an advisor for the California Fire Safe Council.

Paul has been featured in numerous television shows and documentaries, including the Discovery Channel's Life in the Hot Zone. She has also appeared in print media, including The New York Times, National Geographic, and San Francisco Magazine. In 2013, Paul was named as one of Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year.

Today, Paul lives in San Francisco, California, with her wife, artist and writer Wendy MacNaughton. Together they have written two books, The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure, and Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology.