With a tie for the 2017 Leadership Award at the Silent Hero Awards, one of the recipients presented with the Leadership Award is Deputy Chief Linda Black of the City of Fayetteville Fire Department. Deputy Chief Black has been in the fire service for 33 years. The fire industry is a family tradition for her family – her grandfather, her cousin and her brother all served. She has been in her current assignment since 1998 and has earned the respect of her peers and department. She has coordinated the grant request process for her department and has received over $3.9 M in grants to help make critical improvements when local funding sources were limited. She has taken her department through a wide range of growth and purchases of equipment and personnel. She has helped protect these firefighters with breathing apparatuses, thermal imagers, fitness equipment and defibrillators. She has demonstrated her leadership ability over the entire course of her career and serves as a true example of Servant Leadership to her department.