Meet Tonya Boyd: The First Black Female Deputy Chief of NYC's Fire Department

In the entire 150-year history of the NYC Fire Department (FDNY), there has never ever been a black female deputy chief… until now!! 

Captain Tonya Boyd is large and in charge...and breaking barriers. She’s now the highest-ranking black woman in the entire department, which is about 4,000 employees. Yasss! 

Boyd is a native to Brooklyn. She started her career with the FDNY in college, where she was studying nursing. She worked at the FDNY’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to help pay for school.

That led to a two-decade-long career in the fire department. She moved up to paramedic, then lieutenant, then captain of Station 39 in Brooklyn. Now, she’s made it to deputy chief.

It means A LOT for a black woman to be in this position. As Boyd said, “African-American women will see someone who looks like them as a deputy chief and they will know more is possible. Their careers won’t top out at paramedic or even lieutenant.”

Little black girls who can’t even pronounce “deputy chief” can also look to Boyd as an inspiration. She’s proof that black women can do anything they want to do--period!

And the FDNY does, in fact, try to hold black women back…maybe not intentionally so, but they have faced several lawsuits for leaving women and minorities out of their promotion process.

Boyd’s situation is pretty unique. She was never a firefighter—her career was in the EMS. EMS employees can only be promoted above lieutenant through “discretionary appointment” which is basically decided by the superiors. Boyd received an appointment to captain and then to deputy chief.

Boyd is beyond proud of her accomplishments. 

“I’m so excited and I am so blessed. After hearing about the promotion, I couldn’t believe it. I feel like I’ve knocked down a door and opened it for a lot of EMTs just starting on this job.”

The Fire Commissioner, Daniel Nigro, said “Tonya is not only helping to raise the bar for our ability to provide pre-hospital care, she’s also demonstrating to young women of all backgrounds the incredible rewarding career they can achieve in the FDNY.”

Talk about being a boss!