West Sacramento’s Deputy Fire Chief Rebecca “Becky”’ Ramirez never saw a female firefighter growing up and certainly never considered a career in the field.
In fact, when she and her husband, Adam Ramirez, were taking classes at a San Bernardino County-area community college, she encouraged him to enroll in a firefighting course offered there.
“He finally looked at me one day and said, ‘Why don’t you be a fireman?’ ” Ramirez said. “I thought, ‘Well, why don’t I be a fireman? Do women do that?’ ”
More than two decades later, Ramirez, 51, has worked her way through the ranks of the West Sacramento Fire Department, earning a spot as the second-in-command.
On Monday, the city’s deputy fire chief will transition to a new role in a different city: fire chief for the Woodland Fire Department.