First Female Fire Marshal Appointed in Smith County

TYLER — Connie McCoy-Wasson on Tuesday became the first female appointed to serve as Smith County Fire Marshal. According to a county news release, after interviewing five of the 13 candidates who applied for the job, the Smith County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to appoint Wasson. She’ll fill former Fire Marshal Jay Brooks’s unexpired term through December 2016. Brooks resigned from the post in October to take a job in the private sector. McCoy-Wasson has more than 20 years of experience as a deputy fire marshal for Smith County and has served as interim fire marshal since October. According to the news release, McCoy-Wasson says she knows she has “big shoes to fill” and hopes she “can hold up the standards set before me.”