Eighty middle-aged black firefighters entered the Chicago fire academy Friday -- 17 years after taking a disputed entrance exam -- amid concern about how many will survive the grueling six-month training and how well they will be accepted by the rank-and-file.
The 80 rookies -- a few of them in their 50s -- represent the first of 111 African-Americans bypassed by the city's discriminatory handling of a 1995 entrance exam.
Paperwork is still being processed for the remaining 31. They are expected to join their classmates next week.
Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford stressed that the training would not be modified simply because the candidates are older than most.
The Fire Department's age limit for new hires is 38. That does not apply to the 111 black firefighters because the discrimination occurred before the cutoff was established.
Matt Piers, an attorney representing the black firefighters, said he's not concerned about a high level of wash-outs. He noted that the African-American Firefighters League has been conducting fitness training for the last few months to get the candidates into the "best possible" condition.
Piers said he's more concerned about how the black firefighters will be accepted once they complete their training and get assigned to firehouses.
"This department has an extremely troubling history of racial inequity and intolerance to minorities. There's been a terrific amount of bias and bigotry," he said.
