Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. recalled a conversation he had with Andrew Rodgers when Rodgers became a firefighter.

“He told me, ‘I’m here to be a fireman; I’m here to be one for the Vicksburg Fire Department and I want to do what it takes to get up the ladder as a leader,’” Flaggs said. “This is the kind of guy we want to be in our ranks and be promoted.”

Wednesday morning, as his family and brother firefighters looked on, Andrew Rodgers Sr. took the next step with a promotion to captain during a ceremony at the fire department’s training center.

“This is the 16th promotion (in the fire department) since November 2022,” Fire Chief Derrick Stamps said.

Stamps said he and Rodgers came up through the fire department together.

“We went through the fire academy together,” he said. “We’re here to celebrate Andrew’s public service. He has advanced his career to the next level; he’s exemplified loyalty, dedication and more importantly, service to this community.”

Flaggs called Rodgers’ promotion well-deserved.

“Your dedication, bravery and leadership have prepared you for this role,” he said. “A promotion is an earned position. A promotion is coming from hard work and dedication and bravery, but this is where leadership comes out for me because of the fact that most folks don’t understand that in order to get a promotion you have provide a certain kind of leadership among your colleagues.”