Source: Raymond Boyd / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS — Paving the way for women in a male-dominated field, Aleatha Henderson continues to break the brass ceiling at the Indianapolis Fire Department.
Survive Alive has been a resource in the Indianapolis community for nearly three decades, helping to educate families on how to stay safe before and during a fire.
For the last 20 years it’s been run by Aleatha Henderson, who was just appointed as IFD’s first black Battalion Chief.
“It’s an achievement that a lot of firefighters work very hard to achieve,” Henderson said.
Battalion Chief is a new title for Henderson.
“It’s very hard to get used to but it’s one that I’m very proud of,” Henderson said.
She’s been with IFD for 28 years.
“I didn’t want to be a firefighter,” Henderson said. “I often say it’s the best mistake that I ever made.”
She wanted to be a paramedic, so she applied for the fire department, she didn’t realize that she’d always be a firefighter first.
“I was like ‘oh my goodness what have I gotten myself into?’ but I’ve been the type of person that I’ve never backed down from a challenge and so I said, ‘well you know what I’ll just see where this goes’,” Henderson said.
After 28 years serving the Indianapolis community you could say it went pretty well.
“The fact is women are very capable of being great firefighters not just a firefighter but being great firefighters. There are many women on our job that do the job very well,” Henderson said.
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