Amy Schipper is big on team and community—and on being part of something that’s not only bigger than her but meaningful to her and of service to her community. It’s what drew her to Master Tech Auto Repair—and to her side “career” as a newly minted firefighter/EMT.
And this is actually her second time living here. The first time she moved here was in 1993, having moved from San Francisco. Where she’d been working as a hairdresser.
She’d been born in 1968 in Minnesota, where her she’d often hunt and fish alongside her dad in the woods and lakes of Minnesota. “I thought I was a big-city girl,” she recalls, while sitting on the bench just outside Master Tech’s office, which she essentially runs. “But after living in San Francisco, I realized I’m small town.”
She now lives in Madrid, where she’d lived the first time around. “It’s the sweetest community of people,” says Schipper. “People who watch out for each other.”
It’s that cooperative atmosphere that made her want to engage with the town “in a way that’s giving back to the community.”
As fate would have it, she discovered the firehouse soon after moving back. “I’d watch those guys do their thing—and they rock,” marvels Schipper. “When I saw the team and how serious they took it, I wanted to be a part of it right away.”
Especially after she’d learned that her great, great grandfather built the first hose cart for the Sac City, Iowa fire department way back in the day.
Naturally, then, the Madrid fire department pretty much called out to her. “Finding my family history spurred it on,” she says. “It was a big challenge for me, but I love everything about it. It’s given me a lot of confidence. And Chief [Carl] Hansen, has been encouraging since my first day. And there was never anything about being a woman. I’m part of the team. Being levelheaded is a big part of what you need.”
And Schipper exudes levelheadedness.
In 2014, she earned her Structure 1 certification for volunteer firefighters. In 2015, she got her EMT license, and made the national registry earlier this year. “For me, it was about helping out the town and they really need medics,” says Schipper, whose mother not only worked for the Cerebral Palsy foundation and who was practically known as Miss Meals on Wheels for her volunteer work but greatly inspired her daughter to join the fire department (pointing out how nice it’d be to have a woman firefighter on the scene for certain situations involving other women). “We have a lot of motor vehicle accidents.”
She has no plans on moving up to field paramedic; nevertheless, she’s on her way to becoming certified for administering drugs and doing injections (two more skills that are very handy). “Running a line is really important—we do a lot of helicopter lifts,” she says. “But the coolest thing is driving the truck.” And her dream is doing wildland fire EMT.
Last year, Madrid got about 370 calls, the fewest in the county. Sometimes, they get three calls a day, sometimes a week will go by with nothing. But Schipper stays ready. “When I’m not here at Master Tech, I’m on duty,” she says. “But my job here is very important to me.
“It’s important to love who I’m working with, and these are the best, nicest people here,” she adds. “Sometimes I feel like we’re heroes—because we keep people moving. We work very hard and we enjoy each other. There are no egos involved. More minds together make it work out. It really is a team.”
And Ari’s the captain. (Even though he’s the boss.) “Ari doesn’t just throw a Band-Aid on things,” says Schipper. “He diagnoses what’s wrong with your car. Then he fixes the core problem. Sometimes I call him Dr. Ari.”
What also separates Ari from other mechanics is that he explains cars, and what’s going with them, to his customers. When Schipper brought her truck in, he told her she’d been guilty of clutch abuse. Then he took her out on a clutch-driving lesson.
“He’s all about car maintenance,” says Schipper, who does an Ari-recommended repair with each oil change, and whose truck, the one she dragged into Master Tech years ago, now has over 400,000 miles on it. “He keeps meticulous records on your car’s history, and he’s always telling you how to maintain your car as long as you can.”
“To succeed at being a firefighter was awesome and big for me,” says Schipper. “It’s surprising because I didn’t know I’d love it so much. But I love being here. I love what I do. I love being able to do both.”
