For the first time since it was established in 1897, the Long Beach Fire Department will get its first female battalion chief.
Capt. Karen Rindone, currently assigned to the department's operations bureau, will be promoted Saturday, according to department spokesman Jake Heflin.
"It is an honor and a privilege to promote Capt. Karen Rindone to the position of battalion chief," Fire Chief Xavier Espino said.
"She has broken the glass ceiling and prepared a pathway for future female chief officers. I fully expect Chief Rindone to excel at her new position and to mentor those who are to follow."
Rindone was hired in September 2004 and spent six years a firefighter before being promoted to the rank of engineer. She attained the rank of captain in January 2015, Heflin said.
"It was a long, strenuous, and fair process that allowed me to learn and prepare for the position of battalion chief,'' said Rindone, who is raising two 7-year-old children with her partner Aleisha, to whom she has been married for 10 years.
