Woman Breaks Glass Ceiling at CA Department

Aug. 29—Dressed in her daily uniform, a navy blue T-shirt over navy trousers, Mindy Simpson of Vacaville looked every one of her 5 feet 8 inches like a Vacaville Fire Department engineer, just in from a dispatch call Friday morning while driving a mammoth ladder truck.

The blonde, tanned and smiling Simpson, with her hair pulled back, also looked like a classic California beach girl fresh from hanging 10 at a Santa Cruz beach, and, during an interview Friday at Station 74 on Alamo Drive in Vacaville, said, "I love the beach."

But who would guess that the 47-year-old Stockton native, a mother of four and grandmother of two, is not only the Vacaville Fire Department's first female engineer but also will be, officially on Nov. 2 when promoted, the city's first female fire captain?

Simpson, whose father and grandfather served as firefighters in Stockton, also added to her living legacy as the city's second female firefighter, her 1997 hiring coming after the city's first female firefighter left after serving for a couple of months.

While Simpson will make history in the coming months, she wasn't handed the job because a supervisor was trying to diversify the city's firefighting workforce or make a statement about the need for gender equality.

To prepare for her pending new role, she served as an "acting fire captain" from time to time for six years, took a couple of written tests, passed them, interviewed in front of a panel, and also submitted to a video simulation of an emergency situation to gauge how she would handle it, lead it, and bring it to resolution. Again, she passed.

Vacaville Fire Chief Kris Concepcion has full faith and confidence in her and her abilities, noting she passed a rigorous and comprehensive examination other candidates are subject to, and deserved the promotion.

In a text message to The Reporter, he wrote, "Although Mindy will make history as Vacaville Fire Department's first female fire captain, she was promoted because she was successful in a competitive promotional process. As a father of four daughters, I am proud of Mindy for showing young women and girls in the community that anything is possible with hard work and perseverance."

"I'm extremely proud of Mindy and it was my honor and privilege to promote her to the rank of fire captain," he added, noting Simpson has been a department member for 25 of her 29 years in fire service in California.

At her age and given the inherent risks her job entails, Simpson, who over the years has worked at several different city stations, conceded she is looking at retirement when she turns 50, admitting the advancing years will begin to take a toll on the body and its abilities.

Consider that on serious calls, such as a structure fire, firefighters do a lot of lifting, carrying, climbing hills, entering burning buildings, stepping up and into a fire truck "multiple times" during every shift, she said.

"Getting out at 50 is a good plan," said Simpson, who speaks in a clear voice, her breathing not labored like that of some firefighters who served in previous decades and suffered from upper respiratory problems. These days, she added, firefighters wear masks and other protection when attacking a blaze with "bad air."

Firefighting historically has been freighted with macho culture, and "in a sense," Simpson said, it still is. However, in her view, personal attitudes can make a difference when dealing with it.

"I think you have to have a certain type of personality to fit in well," she said. "It's like having a bunch of brothers and sisters," and she enjoys the camaraderie of the firehouse and her department colleagues. As a fire captain, she will supervise a crew of four.

But with this particular enjoyable job comes predictable stress and she is not reluctant to seek counseling to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and post-traumatic stress injury.

While there may have been reluctance for some firefighters to seek help in previous years, in more modern times she and her co-workers seek peer-support counselors and others to help them cope without shame or stigma.

"We talk it out, we have to have our minds right to help ourselves and our citizens," said Simpson, adding firefighters must acknowledge "the impacts stress has on our families."

When not on shift duty, she teaches physical training at the Solano Fire Academy at the Solano Community College Vacaville Center on North Village Parkway.

In her spare time, Simpson likes to get out in nature to backpack, to travel, including visits to her daughter who is teaching art in schools in Ghana, on the south coast of West Africa, and simply spending time with family and friends.

Sadly, she is not spending them with her husband, Bruce, who died unexpectedly in March.

"There have been a lot of changes this year," said Simpson. "But I'm dealing with it."

The arc of her career began while attending Stagg High School in Stockton, where she served as an auxiliary firefighter. After graduating, she worked for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now called CAL FIRE, for four years during the summer seasons and attended community college in the fall and spring.

Hired in Vacaville in 1997, Simpson served as a firefighter for 13 years and since then, for 12, as an engineer.

With Simpson, firefighting is harbored in the family's DNA. She was 10 when she informed her father and grandfather that she would one day be a firefighter like them.

Her grandfather, a large man at 6 feet 4 inches tall, looked down at her, she remembered, smiling, and said, "You couldn't drag me out of a building. And my father said, 'Nobody could drag you out of a building.' "

Today, of course, she could.

And on Nov. 2, promotion day, the day will come and go as any other, she said, adding, "My biggest job is to keep people safe."

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