By Tony Plohetski
Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
Copyright 2007 The Austin American-Statesman
All Rights Reserved
AUSTIN — When Dawn Clopton became an Austin firefighter, she hoped to rise to a leadership position and improve the department by strengthening training and safety guidelines, and raising morale.
More than two decades later, Clopton will get her chance as the department’s first female firefighter in a top leadership position.
“Every job I’ve taken on at the department, I’ve had pretty good success with, so hopefully this will continue that trend,” said Clopton, 43, who has twice received the department’s Medal of Merit for exemplary service.
Fire Chief J.J. Adame announced Clopton’s promotion to division chief Monday and said she would be assigned to the special projects office, where she will focus on increasing the agency’s diversity and reviewing and developing policies. She will be one of five division chiefs.
Adame said the appointment represents great progress for the department, which has struggled in recent years to attract and keep female and minority firefighters.
“We exist to serve the community, so we have a responsibility as much as possible to reflect the community we serve,” he said.
The promotion comes several months after a recently promoted female firefighter found human excrement smeared on her locker and urine in a shampoo bottle at a Duval Road fire station. Austin police are investigating that incident.
Last year, an African American woman attending the department’s training academy sued the city after she was fired, claiming discrimination.
The 1,040-member department has 49 female firefighters.
Clopton, one of the department’s longest-serving female members, traveled to New York after the Sept. 11 attacks, to help search for victims. She also traveled to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region to help victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
In Austin, Clopton has worked in leadership positions at some of the city’s busiest fire stations and has been an executive member of the Austin Firefighters Association. She also has been on the department’s technical rescue team and acted as a spokeswoman for the department.
“Anytime you can bring a wider experience and talk about things for the department, it only increases the amount of information and gives you a better decision in the end,” she said.
“I’m sure I see differently than the guys do,” she said. “When you are a female in the department, you pay more attention to the technical things because you can’t muscle things sometimes.”
Austin City Council Member Mike Martinez, who worked with Clopton when he was a firefighter, said she “probably has more experience than just about anybody in the department right now.
“We are obviously making great strides in recruiting and hiring more women firefighters,” he said. “As we continue this trend, I firmly believe you are going to have more women in leadership roles.”
Louise Joubert, an Austin firefighter and leader in the department’s women’s council, said, “It’s an honor for us to finally see a woman in place in the upper ranks. And it is well-deserved on her part,” she said. “I think she can do a lot for us in that position and for the department as a whole.”