CINCINNATI — A fire captain with the Cincinnati Fire Department is making history as the department’s first-ever Black female fire captain.
“Humbled, to say the least,” said Capt. Alexis Mundy. “Just immensely blessed.”
At 32, Mundy is also the youngest woman ever in the department to claim the rank.
“For African American women especially, even entering the fire service is very tumultuous,” she said.
Department officials said CFD has a few dozen captains. Three are women.
Mundy had originally hoped to become a flight nurse, but while training to be a paramedic she began training at a fire station.
“At one point, they were like, ‘You should just take the fire test and just see what happens,'” she said.
Mundy worked her way up from firefighter to lieutenant. She was officially promoted to captain in late January 2024.
“There's a lot of time and effort that goes into studying to get promoted,” she said, detailing hours spent between runs reviewing flashcards and textbooks to climb the ranks.
“It is really an intensive process,” she said. “It's not for the faint of heart.”
District Chief John Davis Jr., who has worked alongside Mundy for years, said she's a mix of "old school grit with new school ideas."
The two met running the department’s cadet program.
“I can see the fire and it's one that's never going to go out,” Davis Jr. said.
Mundy called Davis Jr. one of her role models.
“Some of my biggest role models have not been other women, and it's not necessarily because there aren't women in the positions that I'm trying to get to, it's just that there aren't as many of them,” she said.
Mundy says she takes pride in the idea that she could be a role model for future generations of women in the fire service.
WCPO 9 asked Mundy, who has two daughters, what she hopes they take away from her success.
“That nothing will come easy, but anything is truly achievable,” she said. “I had my first daughter when I was 16, so the odds were against me without question.”
Mundy, who is currently working to train new recruits, hopes to one day get back on a fire truck.
“If there's one thing I could spend more time doing, it's bringing more people into the fire service and encouraging them to just take that leap of faith, especially women,” she said. “This is for you.”
