''My dad was a fireman until last year, and I grew up living in South Dunedin fire station.
''In the early '70s when I used to tell everyone I wanted to be a firewoman, they used to laugh at me. Girls weren't allowed back then.
''In fact I got told by one chap that there was no room for a woman in this man's fire service.
''I think I was a bit stunned by that. I didn't realise you couldn't do those things.''
But when Anne Barry fought a lengthy battle with the Fire Service Commission to become Australasia's first professional female firefighter in 1981, it strengthened Mrs Foster's resolve.
She worked in the fire service control room when it was in Dunedin, was a volunteer firefighter at Portobello from 1991 and transferred to Brighton in 1997 after marrying.
She remains the only female to have joined the Brighton Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Dunedin did not get its first full-time firewoman until the early 2000s, she said.
Mrs Foster encouraged others to join volunteer fire brigades because it not only gave something back to the community, but it also developed skills that could be applied to other parts of life.
She said the Brighton Volunteer Fire Brigade was a great resource for the community because without it, the nearest appliance was 20 minutes away, ''if they're not already busy''.
While Mrs Foster is no longer a firefighter, she has become a paramedic and remains connected to the Brighton Volunteer Fire Brigade by training the volunteers in first aid, being a ''first responder'' to medical calls on a fire appliance, and attending fires with the firefighters as a medic.
She is a woman of many talents. Because she has a history degree from the University of Otago, she was asked to write a history of the brigade, called Brighton Volunteer Fire Brigade (1964-2014) to help celebrate the facility's 50th jubilee.
Mrs Foster was one of about 50 firefighters, past and present, who attended jubilee events on Friday and Saturday.
