Two Months Keep New Little Rock Fire Chief Busy

For two months, the Little Rock Fire Department has been under a new command. Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr started in January, months after Chief Phil Johnston left the post. The two months have kept her busy, but she`s not complaining. Something she`s already done is create new badges for the department. That`s just one step in giving the department a new image. "We want to achieve uniformity, and consistency in everything we do, the way we look, the way our apparatus looks, in the way we apply our rules and regulations," Kerr said. Some of the other changes she`s made only took a woman`s touch. "Like the painting on the wall behind me, things we wanted to do to show pride," said Captain Jim Williams. Kerr started firefighting after 13 years of teaching. She comes to Little Rock from the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department in Florida. "It was the realization of a goal when I began in fire service 20 years ago, in 1983, my goal was to be chief of a metropolitan fire department," Kerr said. And she knows it hasn`t always been easy as a woman in this business. She`s one of 16 female fire chiefs for career departments in the country, and one of four in charge of those with more than 400 people. "I have a little saying I like to pass on, the door to opportunity is marked push and only you can lock it," she said. Pictures on the wall of the men who came before her will soon have some company of the female persuasion. Kerr says she`s aware of some of the controversy that Chief Johnston left behind. But she says she`s focusing on the positive moves that administration made, instead of the negative. "I can tell you I`ve never had such good treatment," Kerr said. They`re already taking good care of her.