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[NBC] Meet New York’s Only Female, Asian-American Firefighter

February 4, 2015

 

Sarinya Srisakul, the first Asian-American woman firefighter in the New York City Fire Department, works at the fire house for Engine 5 in Manhattan. (Courtesy of John Brecher / NBC News)

Sarinya Srisakul, the first Asian-American woman firefighter in the New York City Fire Department, works at the fire house for Engine 5 in Manhattan. (Courtesy of John Brecher / NBC News)

[NBC NEWS]

When Sarinya Srisakul went back to Thailand in 2007 to visit her family, she asked the taxi driver to take her to a firehouse.

“He was like, ‘Why would you go see a firehouse? They’re all corrupt,’” she recalled.

Srisakul, who works at Engine 5 in Manhattan, was doing what many firefighters do when they travel – visiting their brothers and sisters in a different department, hoping to exchange a patch or T-shirt while talking shop over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.

But this was Thailand.

“They looked me up and down and said, ‘They let women be firefighters in America?’” said Srisakul, who lives in Jackson Heights, Queens. “They didn’t believe me. They wanted me to show them proof, pictures of me in my gear.”

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