Clark County Fire District 6 will make Kristan Maurer the first female chief in the district's history. She will be sworn in officially on Jan. 7.
Just how rare are female chiefs? In the male-dominated profession of firefighting, there are only approximately 50 female fire chiefs across the 29,000 districts in the United States and around a half-dozen are in the state of Washington.
"I'm a small percentage, but I don't look at myself any differently than a male counterpart. We do the same job, we have the same education and training. The end goal is to always keep the community safe." Maurer said.
Maurer joined CCFD6 in 1999 as a firefighter and paramedic. At the time, she was only the second female to be hired by the department. She spent 17 years on the line and then rose through the ranks as a Captain, Battalion Chief, Assistant Chief and finally the District's first female fire chief.