The lessons learned (in training) are the same for everyone. You need to save lives; that’s our priority. You might not like me, but we have to agree that we have a job to do.
Natashia Kirch witnessed the fearsome, fatal power of fire at a young age.
In 1989, Kirch’s family moved to Madison and lived at Somerset Circle, a low-income housing development on the city’s south side. On March 13, 1990, a fire broke out in the complex and killed five children in their bedrooms. The children were aged 5 months, 1, 2, 5 and 9 years old.
The dreadful experience is forever seared into her brain.
“One of the kids who died was 9 years old and I was 9 years old,” she recalled. “I watched the chaos unfold. My career path started there.”
Her career path has included being the only Black female in her fire academy class, being one of only four Black women to serve on the Madison Fire Department, and since last November, being the lone Black female instructor in Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Fire Protection Technician program.
“While Natashia is new to the college, she carries good energy and a dynamic teaching spirit that appeals to our students,” said Janell Jones, associate dean of the college’s Community and Human Services Academic and Career Pathway, which includes the Fire Protection Technician program.
“Some young ladies might be interested in this profession but might not think there is a safe space for them,” Jones said. “Tasha is professional, and our female students can see what she has done. Having someone that looks like them providing instruction is important.”
Kirch was born in Germany, grew up in an Army family and moved to the United States when she was 4 years old. She attended Madison schools and graduated from Madison West High School. In 2003, she started at the city’s fire academy, but then she had a son and put fire training on hold.
She worked as a certified nursing assistant at a memory care facility in Verona for eight years and had a daughter. Nearly 20 years later, she decided to give firefighting another try. She was the only Black female in her academy class.
“The lessons learned there are the same for everyone,” Kirch said. “You need to save lives; that’s our priority. You might not like me, but we have to agree that we have a job to do.”
In December 2019 she joined the Madison Fire Department as a firefighter/paramedic. “I was a nervous wreck,” she admitted.
On her first day she responded to an accident where a 7-year-old was hit by a car. The mother was upset and didn’t want a lieutenant or senior firefighter to treat the child, Kirch recalled.
“She wanted me to help her, and as soon as I did, it helped defuse the situation,” Kirch said.
Despite providing critical assistance like that, women and people of color in the field have to prove themselves time and time again, Kirch said. “Women have to do about 50% more. Black women have to do 80% more,” she said.
When Kirch started, she was advised to stay quiet and keep her head down to navigate any challenges on the job. “You had to make a choice between being liked and being respected. You had to choose,” she said. “But now we have discovered that doing that allows for even more disrespect. Now we speak up.”
In 2022, she became an emergency medical services instructor at Madison Area Technical College, and then she joined MATC in November 2024. This spring she’s teaching Fire 1 and Fire 2 classes.
“Most students find out in the first month whether they’re going to make it. They find out they have to lift heavy things, that they have to be outside when it’s freezing cold, that in the summer it gets really hot, and that they might have to work when most of us are sleeping,” she said. “It’s a calling, not just a job.”
Along with her job, Kirch teaches CPR at local churches in Milwaukee and supplies information to people of color about renters insurance, fire detectors and fire safety.
“I have a passion for working with people in the community,” she said. “I’m sure that goes back to seeing what I saw when I was a little girl. I don’t want any other child to see what I saw.”
Learn more about MATC’s Protective Services programs
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.