Miguel Armenta is the first Mexican-American to be promoted to lieutenant in Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical's history. Armenta has been a member of the department for 10 years and before that was with the Navy and Emporia Fire Department.

Miguel Armenta’s proudest day was almost 10 years ago when he was hired as a firefighter with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical.

Now, that moment has been trumped.

Armenta recently was promoted to lieutenant, the first Mexican-American to reach that rank in the department’s history.

But while Armenta is proud of his heritage, it’s only a small part of who he is.

“I consider myself just like everyone else, but my heritage – my grandparents are Mexican – I’m proud of that,” he said.

He hopes his promotion serves as an inspiration to others and promotes greater diversity in the department. “I want to send a message that we’d love to have more diversity in our department,” he said.

Armenta stressed that one of the best parts of his job is the relationships that he forms with his co-workers.

“Being part of a group that’s really tight is important,” he said.

That’s probably an understatement when considering the responsibility firefighters have for each other.

“He has my life in his hands and I have his. If anything goes wrong, he knows I’m not going to leave him,” said Jerry Karr, a friend of Armenta’s and a retired division chief with the department.

Firefighter engineer Jim Thornton said the support that they give each other after an incident is important.

“We’re always there for each other. We have bad calls all the time and we go back to the firehouse and help each other,” Thornton said.

Armenta joined the Navy after graduating from Harmon High School in Kansas City, Kan., and served for four years. He spent five years with the Emporia Fire Department before getting hired in Lawrence and putting down roots.

“Everyone I know from my job lives here. It’s a really comfortable place to live,” Armenta said.

The single father of two said that when he decided he wasn’t going to make the military a career, it made sense to become a paramedic. He’d been a corpsman while in the Navy.

As a lieutenant, Armenta is in charge of the ambulance company at Fire Station 4. He works 10 24-hour shifts each month and goes out on almost every ambulance call while working.

While the department covers fire calls only in the city of Lawrence, the ambulances are responsible for emergency calls in all of Douglas County.

Armenta credits other departmental leaders and his parents, Candy and Louise Armenta, for giving him the skills he needs to succeed.

Armenta said that this promotion was a good gauge of his career. While he won’t admit to having an eye on reaching a certain level in the department, he said he wants to move up the ladder.

“This department is moving forward so much, so fast. I’d welcome the opportunity for a bigger leadership role,” he said.