Only four percent of the firefighters in our country are women, according to the Women in Fire organization. The town of Fairfield has hired its first female firefighter in a quarter-century. The woman at the center of this story is no stranger to breaking glass ceilings.
It was a simple swearing-in full of smiles and a daughter pinning her mother, newly sworn-in firefighter Caitlin Clarkson Pereira.
“It feels incredible to put on this uniform,” Clarkson Pereira said.
67 recruits at the State Fire Academy graduated last week in Bloomfield, including Clarkson Pereira. All of them completed months of training and there were only a few women in the newest class of firefighters, but they excelled. There are 90 men on shift. Clarkson Pereira is the first woman hired in nearly 30 years.
“I will be the first woman on. It feels like a big responsibility, but I’m excited and humbled to be able to do it,” Clarkson Pereira said.