BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : FIRST BLACK WOMAN PROMOTED TO FDNY LIEUTENANT, Ist TIM IN 12 YEARS - TRACEY LEWIS GET PROMOTED TO LIEUTENANT IN THE NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT :

  BLACK   SOCIAL  HISTORY                                                                                                                  BLACK WOMAN PROMOTED TO FDNY LIEUTENANT, 1ST TIME IN 12 YEARS

The New York City Fire Department promoted a black woman, Tracey Lewis, to the rank of lieutenant for the first time in 12 years.

NEW YORK --

The New York City Fire Department promoted a black woman to the rank of lieutenant for the first time in 12 years.

Tracey Lewis was promoted Wednesday, becoming the second-ever black female firefighter to be promoted to lieutenant in the department's history.

Lewis has been a firefighter for 17 years, starting off as a cadet. She was an emergency medical technician and later worked on Engine 222 in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn.

There are only nine black women firefighters at the FDNY, and Lewis will be the only officer. There are more than 40 women at the department of nearly 10,400 people.

Ella McNair was the first black woman promoted to rank of lieutenant in 2002.

An FDNY spokesman says three women who are white have been promoted so far this year - two to lieutenant and one to captain. At least four other women who are white have been promoted during the last decade.