*A firefighter has just shattered the glass ceiling and broken racial barriers in Virginia with one single promotion.
Tiffanye Wesley has become the first African American woman to become a deputy fire chief in northern Virginia.
“It still feels surreal!” she tells local ABC affiliate WJLA about becoming the deputy fire chief for Arlington County, one of just three Black people in a department of nearly 350 members. “The support is unbelievable, all over the country.”
She’s now in charge of recruitment, promotions, discipline, everything related to human resources.
Wesley made national news when she got her last promotion almost two years ago, even challenging Harry Connick Jr. to the rigorous firefighter test on his talk show.
Wesley’s husband Eric is also in the fire department. He was just promoted to captain, but she outranks him with her new title. Still, he’s her biggest fan.
“When he looked at me and said ‘I knew you could do it,’ it meant the world to me.”
Below, watch Tiffanye Wesley in action!
