BILL McKELWAY
Richmond Times Dispatch

When Millard T. Watkins Jr. called the Richmond Fire Department to his Byrd Park home decades ago, he set more things in motion than wailing fire engines.

Firefighters extinguished flames roiling from a faulty electric stove, but they set a spark glowing in the heart of Watkins' 8-year-old daughter, Tina.

On Thursday in a groundbreaking ceremony that overcame a 152-year-old hurdle in one of the country's oldest fire departments, Tina R. Watkins was awarded the rank of battalion chief with the Fire Department.

Watkins, the second female firefighter hired in Richmond, and longtime friend Christine Richardson became the first women to rise through the department's ranks from firefighter to battalion chief in a ceremony that also saw four other captains elevated - Robert S. Baumgardner Jr., John R. Harkness, Clarence E. Lewis III and Orlando Morris.

"It's a proud moment for me and my family," Watkins said as her 85-year-old father and brothers looked on, 40-plus years since the kitchen stove went up in flames.

Mayor Dwight C. Jones described the ceremony as a "historic occasion that shows Richmond aggressively is offering support to all people" in its push to become a first-tier city. "Another hallmark is achieved today."

Watkins' father pinned the twin gold pins of three crossed trumpets to the lapels of his daughter's crisp white shirt and spoke of the family's dedication to public service.

A son, Reginald, works with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "I asked him what he does and he says he can't tell me," said Watkins, a retired postal worker.

Tina Watkins and Richardson worked with at-risk children before joining the department - Watkins in 1988 and Richardson in 2000 - and they both spoke to the difficulty of working in a profession in which death lurks behind every burning door.

"You develop a passion for wanting to help the community," said Richardson, speaking on the importance of fire safety and preventable losses.

The set of new battalion chiefs - there are now 16 - is part of a restoration of leadership positions and facility improvements in the department that haven't existed since budget cutbacks in 1995 wiped out a fourth battalion in the city, said Fire Chief Robert Creecy.

The family-oriented ceremony Thursday was full of applause and picture-snapping moments.

But for the new battalion chiefs, the easy-going evening may be the last one so free of official duties and decision-making responsibilities. Creecy called the job the vital link between firefighters in the field and top-level administrators.

Watkins, an athlete in her youth who grew up with three brothers, said she adapted quickly to life in a fire department filled almost entirely with men, most of them white. She was named firefighter of the year in 1991. This past summer, the department celebrated the 60th anniversary of hiring its first African-Americans, then a statewide first.

"Leadership is a process," Watkins said. "You learn the people around you. You learn how to treat people.

"I came in 22 years ago as a woman, but I've become part of a team."

Copyright 2010 Richmond Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
November 6, 2010