Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 11-27-20

Feature
African American Woman Named Interim Fire Chief
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Last week, Mayor Jane Castor suspended the Tampa Fire Chief and two other high ranking employees. The suspensions centered around an internal investigation.
She named Rescue Division Chief Barbara Tripp as the Interim Fire Chief. She will serve in that capacity until the conclusion of the investiga- tion. Chief Tripp was introduced to Tampa City Council Thursday.
Chief Tripp joined the Tampa Fire Department 21 years ago. She began her career as a Firefighter and rose through the ranks as paramedic, Lieutenant, Captain, Quality Im- provement Officer, Rescue Division Supervisor, and serves as Rescue Chief.
A native of Tampa, Chief Tripp is the daughter of the late K. D. and Lee M. Tripp. She attended the
South Florida. After completing her tour of duty at the Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, she was hon- orably discharged.
Chief Tripp earned an Associ- ates of Art Degree, Associate of Sci- ence Degree in EMS Management, and an Associate of Science in Nurs- ing from Hillsborough Community College. She later received her Bach- elor of Science in Nursing from St. Pe- tersburg College.
Since joining the Tampa Fire De- partment, Chief Tripp has contin- ued her education, earning several certifications including Critical Care Tech, Urban Search and Rescue, Honor Guard, Paramedic of Record, Paramedic Field Training Officer, Hazardous Materials Technician, Camp Hopetake Counselor, and Crit- ical Incident Stress Management Team member.
Chief Tripp is also a graduate of Leadership Tampa 2020.
The mother of 4 children and 7 grandchildren, Chief Tripp is a member of First Baptist Church of Progress Village, where she serves on numerous auxiliaries.
As a member of Hopetake, she mentors children who have been se- verely burned or involved in a fire in- cident and also finds time to work with Feeding Tampa Bay and Trinity Café, among others.
CHIEF BARBARA TRIPP Interim Tampa Fire Chief
public schools of Hillsborough County, graduating from Hillsbor- ough High School in 1984.
Prior to joining the U. S. Navy in 1988, she attended the University of
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