The firefighter, one of nine female members of the Omarama Volunteer Fire Brigade, was appointed as deputy brigade leader earlier this week.
She is the first woman in the brigade’s history to hold a leadership role.
"I’m quite proud to represent the other women in the brigade," Mrs Innes said.
"I’m really hoping that it would inspire other ones, perhaps in the community or younger women in the community, that might want to take on leadership roles that they can do that."
While firefighting has traditionally been a male-dominated field, that was quickly changing.
"There’s people breaking through those barriers now. There’s definitely more women across all of Fenz [Fire and Emergency New Zealand] which I think is great.
"When you do the training, everybody is evaluated the same. You go through the same training courses, you’re expected to do the same tests and everything else.
"That’s the great thing about it, I think, is that you’re not treated any differently."
The Innes family has a strong legacy at the Omarama brigade.
Mrs Innes’s mother in-law, Geva, and her daughter, Maddy, are both with the brigade.
The latter joined last year and moved to Alexandra for a few months before returning in May.
"We’ve been on a few calls together now which we hadn’t done before Maddy went to Alex. Now she’s back, we’ve been on quite a few calls, the three of us together.
"It’s quite neat for all of us to be there."
Mrs Innes is also the first person in Otago or Southland to be appointed under Fenz’s new volunteer leadership process.
Previously, in order to hold a leadership position, firefighters were required to progress through the ranks all the way up to station officer.
This new process allows brigade leaders to be appointed based on suitability and leadership potential instead.
"It’s going to provide brigades with better opportunities for leadership," Mrs Innes said.
"Because you’re not limited to only officers in your brigade, it means you can choose people that are going to suit that role that have got better leadership skills.
"It just gives more opportunities for brigades, especially the smaller ones."
Mrs Innes has been with the brigade for five years and holds the rank of firefighter, although she is flying up to Rotorua on Sunday for a five-day qualified firefighter course.
She hopes to keep progressing through the ranks in the future.
"At this stage I’m just trying to take advantage of as many of the training courses that are on offer as I can.
"That’s the great thing about that side of Fenz is that there are a lot of leadership courses and things that you can do and you can use them in your Fenz career but you can also use them in your professional career as well."
When she is not fighting fires, Mrs Innes and her husband, Charlie, run a business, Dredge NZ, selling gold-prospecting equipment.
