As shift commander Capt. Curtis Shaver put it, any day a firefighter can see growth in the department is a good day.

Troy Fire Department held a pinning ceremony Tuesday for its newest sergeant, Mylan Beasley.

Beasley, who joined the department in February 2008, quickly made his way through the ranks earning his Firefighter One and Two certifications in 2009 and becoming a certified paramedic by 2010. Beasley said he had worked hard to reach those goals knowing they would help him get a leg up when it came time for promotions.

“This promotion means a lot,” Beasley said. “You test for it. The testing gets progressively harder. But making sergeant, you’re in a group with every firefighter in the department … It’s a step toward company officer and from there on up.”

Chief Thomas Outlaw said he hoped that Beasley would continue to advance.

“We hope he will continue to go along with and grow in the fire department,” Outlaw said. “We have really grown to appreciate Mylan. He is a good person.”

Beasley was certified as a Hazmat technician in 2011 and in 2012 received his apparatus operator certification. Shaver said that Beasley had accomplished in a short time what many would take several years to do.

“In a short time he has accomplished a lot and we just want to recognize that by pinning him sergeant,” Shaver said. “For this department, being a sergeant is a very important position. We call a lieutenant a company officer, but also when our company officer is not there a sergeant steps up and takes the role of a company officer. The sergeant is our apparatus operator but he becomes the boss of the truck when a company officer is not there. It’s a very important role.”

Shaver said Beasley’s constant drive to excel had shown in the way he had worked to achieve the ranking of sergeant.

“He’s worked hard form his hire date to when he was in school to become a paramedic,” Shaver said. “He has worked constantly. It goes to show his drive to be the best he can be in this department.”