Female Fire Chief in Seminole County

[captstanm1]

CENTRAL FLORIDA & STATE THE STATE IN BRIEF
Female fire chief to take over


Posted September 16, 2005
SEMINOLE COUNTY -- Seminole County Assistant Fire Chief Leeanna Raw will become the first female chief of a department with paid firefighters in Florida on Oct. 1 when she takes over Seminole County's top post.

Raw, 41, will replace Terry L. Schenk, who is retiring after 30 years with the department.

There are about 30 career-level departments across the country with women as chiefs, said Terese Floren, executive director of Women in the Fire Service Inc.

Raw will be paid $90,000 a year to oversee the county fire division's 16 stations, 323 employees and a budget of about $40 million.

Raw joined the agency in 1999 and is in charge of planning.

Willoughby Mariano, Gary Taylor, Robert Perez and Pedro Ruz Gutierrez of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Material from The Associated Press also was used.

[captstanm1]

Congratulations and best of luck to her.

I do not however beleive she is the first female Chief in Florida. The City of Seminole in Pinellas County had a Female Fire Chief some years back. She now works for FEMA in the Grants programs area.