According to Krgv.com, in Harlingen, Texas, female firefighter Bree Rios has been on the job for five years now, inspiring girls throughout the Valley with being the cities’ first female firefighter. Rios stated, “Whenever I first came in, I didn’t come in thinking, ‘Oh I want to be the first, It was just something I wanted to do and it happened.” Rios also explained that it was something that ran in the family, “My dad also works for the fire department. He’s put in 20-plus years,” Rios said.” “It was just something I grew up around and it was always something that intrigued me, and I loved being around. I always loved going to the station when I was younger and stuff like that. When you’re younger, you don’t see the dangers that come with the job, you just see your dad taking off in the fire engine with lights and sirens and you think, ‘Ok that’s cool. I want to do that.’”
Five years later, Rios is still very passionate about her career, stating that “There’s so many things I love about this job,” “I think the comradery, one, of the department. Holidays, special occasion days, on weekends and stuff like that where you normally be spending with your family, we’re spending it with our fire family. I love the unknown of coming in to see like, ‘Oh, what is today going to bring for us?’” Currently, Rios is one of three female firefighters on the team, and is hoping to further inspire more girls to consider firefighting as an option in her final statement saying that, “If I had any words of encouragement, I would just say go. If you want something bad enough and you love it, you just got to go for it and do it,”.
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