HARLINGEN — It took Bree Rios to break the big glass ceiling.
For three years, she worked hard to join the Harlingen Fire Department.
Now, she becomes the department’s first female firefighter, out to fill her father’s big boots.
Fire department Driver Victor Rios, a 24-year veteran, blazed the trail for his only daughter, the youngest of his three children.
“I’m proud,” Rios, 25, said yesterday at a press conference at the department’s downtown station.
“I feel excited,” she said. “I feel a lot of pressure. I heard a woman can’t compete when it comes to physical force. Hopefully, I can take on the role and become a great firefighter. I have support from the chief and other guys in the department.”
For her father, his daughter’s historic feat feels “a little shocking.”
“I couldn’t be prouder,” Victor Rios said. “It’s been one of her dreams for a very long time. She worked very hard and she accomplished her goal.”
Fire Chief Roy Rubio said other women have tried to join the department but Rios is the first to pass its written and physical tests.
“This is a great opportunity for other female firefighters to get on board,” said Rubio, who did not have information readily available on the number of women who have tried to join the department in the past.
On her third try, Rios passed a written Civil Service exam then went on to pass an agility, or physical, test, beating out other candidates for the job.
“Getting into Harlingen is tough,” Rios told reporters. “It was very rigorous but I got through it.”
Rios, who has worked as a personal trainer and an emergency medical technician, said she focused on strengthening her legs and boosting her cardio fitness to pass the physical test.
“I’d work out in the gym,” she said. “I worked out two to three hours a day, five times a week.”
Rios already feels like she is turning into a role model in the community.
“I didn’t know the impact it was going to make on citizens,” she said. “I’ve had girls say, ‘I heard about you.’ I tell them, ‘If I can do it, you can do it if you work hard. If you set your mind to something, go on and do it.’”
When she was about 5, Rios started dreaming of being a firefighter.
“I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps,” she said. “I’d go to the station, run around, put on my dad’s uniform, boots. I’ve been around it my whole life. It’s something I fell in love with — the brotherhood, the friendship and camaraderie.”
Rubio said Rios has the qualities to make a great firefighter.
“We will work as a part of a team,” Rubio said. “She’s very smart, very dedicated — mentally and physically. She’s respectful, committed to learn and performing at 100 percent.”
Capt. Eduardo Alvarez described Rios as a trailblazer.
“It’s kind of exciting,” Alvarez said. “We’ve had several females try in years past. She’s got a very good attitude. We consider ourselves a brotherhood. Now we’ve got a little sister.”
The department has yet to assign Rios to one of its eight fire stations, Rubio said.
Rubio said all of the department’s stations are equipped with restroom and sleeping quarters to house female firefighters.
“She will have all the accommodations she needs to be comfortable,” Rubio said.
