Sharon Purifoy can remember her scariest day as a Milwaukee firefighter.
It was her first day on the job in 2003. Nothing particular happened that day. But it was frightening for her to be starting a career in which life and death are separated by a very thin line.
"The most scared I’ve ever been on the job? It had to be just walking in here. It wasn’t a run, it wasn’t a fire. It was walking into something that I knew nothing about," Purifoy told FOX6 News from her office on a recent afternoon. "I know there were women before me that could have held this position," Purifoy said.
Still, Purifoy is the first and it is a responsibility she welcomes. It matters, she said, because people, particularly kids, need to see what their future can hold.
"Because if young girls who look like me don’t see people who look like me, they never aspire to do this," Purifoy said.