Last week a federal judge ruled that from 1999 to 2007, the New York City Fire Department used recruitment exams that discriminated against African-American and Hispanic applicants.
At a Chiefs Panel held this past Saturday at Firehouse Expo in Baltimore, FDNY Chief Salvatore Cassano addressed the issue.
"It wasn't so much the test, but the results of it," he said. "We had few minorities being hired."
Cassano -- who was appointed chief in 2006 and previously served as Chief of Operations since September 2001 -- made the point that the city's minorities didn't have a direct connection to the job that would lead them to apply. He stated that many white males applied for the job because they had a family member who currently or used to be employed by the FDNY.
Since the case opened and the exams were revised in 2007, he said the department took a serious look at how it was recruiting firefighters. The FDNY began holding events and changed its overall marketing campaign to target minorities.
Cassano said recruiters went into communities and explained details about the job such as how shifts worked, the benefit program and the importance of camaraderie in the fire service. This was a change in tactics for a department that once focused on the excitement of the job and the ability to be a hero to recruit applicants.
"It wasn't really all about the bells and whistles for them," he said about minorities who were approached at marketing events.
He said that because of those efforts, 33 percent of the current class of recruits is made up of minorities -- a drastic increase from years past.
The FDNY chief was joined on the panel by Baltimore Fire Chief Jim Clack and Washington, D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin.
During the discussion, Clack interjected that in the 1970s, the Minneapolis Fire Department -- where he was employed for 22 years and served as chief for just less than two years before moving to Baltimore -- was 100 percent white, 100 percent male.
He said it was difficult to shift the culture of the department and forced him and his staff to be proactive.
"You must have people who look like the community they go into," he said. "(Recruiting minorities) is not free. You can't just put an ad in the paper and expect people who aren't familiar with the job to apply."
Rubin said he fortunately has a department where a majority of the firefighters are minorities, but said the biggest thing is keeping high standards for diversity.
"I think we're really starting to break through," he said, noting that the last class of recruits had what he believes to be the most minority legacies in the department's history.
The three chiefs agreed that another issue in minority communities is the need for community outreach by departments to further prevent fire-related fatalities.
The FDNY has a fire safety education unit that has handouts printed in 25 different languages, according to Cassano.
When budgets became too tight to fully staff the unit, the department called on retirees and used Fire Act grants to fill its ranks.
"These people are so passionate when they go out to events," he said.
Clack said it is extremely important to put more resources into community outreach. He said that unfortunately some residents see a uniform, think they are in trouble with the law and don't open their doors.
"When there is a fire death in their community; that is when we can get in and they'll listen to us."
He said this has to change and that departments need to do everything they can to stress the importance of prevention.
When talking about community outreach, Rubin recalled a recent program where the department distributed and installed child safety seats to needy families. He said that a day after one woman received the seats; she was in a brutal car crash with her two children sitting behind her.
The woman received multiple injuries and was taken to the hospital but would recover. The two children were unharmed in the crash.
"It was the car seats that saved those children's lives," Rubin said.
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