Dekalb County Fire Appoints First Female Lieutenant

The Dekalb County Fire Department has promoted the first ever female lieutenant.

Fire Chief Donny Green said Kristie Johnson will provide county-wide supervision and leadership for the department.

“We have had female firefighters on the department for a while but she is the first one to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant,” Johnson said. “We are excited about having her on our leadership team.”

The Dekalb Fire Department Chief Donny Green promoted Kristie Johnson to Lieutenant on Monday.

Green said Johnson put in years worth of work to become an officer.

“She has worked on this for about two and a half years. The testing process probably went that long,” Green said. “Then there is a list of criteria as far as training courses she has to complete with various advanced-type leadership training courses that are in addition to firefighting training courses we do.”

Johnson has contributed to the department in various ways, including working with the local ambulance service and instructing EMT classes.

Green said he hopes Johnson’s promotion will encourage more women to join the department.

“Well, fire service has transitioned a lot. It used to be a kind of a guy’s job. And you know, we have transitioned and it’s just like other activities and other jobs out there,” Green said. “Women are becoming more involved with it and we are challenged by having a pool of people to recruit in our communities.”

Green said the department currently has six women firefighters but wants to reach out to different people within the community.

“This is certainly something we are interested in and reaching out to males and females and all kinds of different people in our community,” Green said. “The people that make up our community, we want them all involved if we can get them because volunteers are hard to get.”

Johnson will cover the Blue Springs, Keltonburg, Short Mountain, and Belk communities.