HARLINGEN — It took Bree Rios to break the big glass ceiling.
For three years, she worked to become the Harlingen Fire Department’s first female firefighter.
Now, she is filling the big boots of her father Capt. Victor Rios, a 25-year veteran who blazed the trailed for his only daughter, the youngest of his three children.
“I’m proud,” Rios, 25, said Monday at a press conference at the department’s downtown station. “I feel excited. 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.”
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.
Rios passed a written Civil Service exam and an agility, or physical test, beating out other candidates for the job.
“Getting into Harlingen is tough,” Rios told reporters. “I’d work out in the gym. I worked out two to three hours a day, five times a week.”
Rios said she is already turning into a role model in the community.
“I didn’t know the impact it was going to make on citizens,” Rios 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.”
