THE FIRST female Brazilian firefighter in Ireland has taken up her duties in Gort, Co Galway.
Rosilane "Rosa" de Silva (29) moved to Ireland almost eight years ago and she had long harboured notions of becoming a firefighter.
This was never possible in her home country as women are prohibited from joining the service there.
Ms de Silva has been living for the past eight years in Gort, where about one person in four comes from Brazil, due to the influx of migrant workers for the meat industry.
Ms de Silva said she saw an advertisement for the fire service in the Centra shop where she worked in Gort and signed up last year, with nine others.
Only seven of them made it through interviews, and she is the only woman among them.
Across Ireland, there are only 83 women firefighters.
She said she received huge support from her friends and workmates in Centra, including her manager John Coughlin.
"I used to work on the till but recently I moved to the deli," she said. "If I get called out on duty in the middle of the day, it makes things easier for me.
"When I started this process in the beginning, I didn't really tell anyone I was doing it. I only told my closest friends.
"I wanted to get through the different stages first before I told anyone."
Station officer John Lally said: "I have known Rosa for years from going in and out of the Centra shop.
"She will be a valued addition to the team and she is more than capable of handling anything that comes her way."
So far this year, the unit has been called out 18 times.
Ms de Silva's first engagement as a firefighter took place on Sunday at the Gort St Patrick's Day parade.
The unit carried out a road traffic collision exercise to show the public what it did at the scene of an accident.