Tulsa Fire Recognizes Department’s First Black Female Firefighter

The Tulsa Fire Department honored the first Black woman to become a firefighter in Tulsa.

“What I would want young women to know - don't look at the negatives, but at the positives. What can you bring to the fire service to make it better?" Cledella Evans-Stearns, former Tulsa firefighter, said.

Firefighters recognized Evans-Stearns at an event Thursday night. They read a proclamation from Mayor G.T. Bynum’s office recognizing her 13 years serving the department.

She comes from a family of Tulsa firefighters, including her great uncle Merle Stripling, who was Tulsa’s first Black fire chief.