BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tanika Mack grew up on Buffalo’s East Side, and has been a firefighter in the city for four years now. It’s a challenge she’s tackled head on.

“You get caught up in thinking of what you can’t do,” she said. “Sometimes it’s best to show someone doing it to prove that you can. You tell yourself, ‘If they can do it, maybe I can do it.’”

She’s one of about 700 firefighters in the department — where only about 40 are women and a third are minorities. She’s part of a push from department and city leaders to recruit people like her and create more diversity.

“Seeing someone that is like you, and the likeness and seeing them go through it and do it or knowing that they have accomplished this, that kind puts a fire in you,” said Mack. “It gives you a little more drive. A little more belief in yourself.

Like Mack, Alicia Montalvo was born and raised in Buffalo. She joined the department about a year ago.

“I’ve always had a respect for people in service, so I figured it was time for me to get out there and help my community the way a lot of people can’t and I’m fortunate enough to,” said Montalvo.

When she’s on an emergency call, she’s seen how having firefighters from diverse backgrounds can help in a city filled with a wide array of people.

“I feel like they definitely feel a little bit more a connection when they see more people that look like them,” said Montalvo. “It gives them the comfort to want to step out and do it themselves.

The city’s firefighter civil service exam is coming up in June, and it only happens once every four years. Fire Commissioner William Renaldo is a firm believer in having different voices at every level of the department — from the newest additions to the leadership ranks making policy decisions.

“We want people from diverse backgrounds so they can have different input and people from diverse backgrounds can look at it from different vantage points,” said Renaldo.

In his 35 years with the department, he’s seen attitudes about female firefighters change for the better, and they’re capable of handling anything their male colleagues can. Women — like Montalvo and Mack.

“And that’s the best feeling,” said Mack. “To know that you’re setting an example and you’re showing them that they have possibilities and the sky’s the limit of what they can do.”