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June 16, 2005

Black firefighters cite FDNY’s minority hiring

Pat Milton

NEW YORK (AP) — As the city’s Fire Department welcomed 235 new firefighters into its ranks on Wednesday, a group of black firefighters criticized its hiring practices, noting that only 11 blacks and one woman graduated in the first class of 2005.

“This is pathetic,” Capt. Paul Washington, president of the Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization of black firefighters, said at a news conference outside the FDNY graduation ceremony at Brooklyn College.

Of the city’s roughly 11,000 firefighters, 300, or about 3 percent, are black, while 30, or less than 1 percent, are women, he said.

“This is a slap in the face of not only black New Yorkers but all New Yorkers,” said Washington, who was joined by a dozen city firefighters. He accused the Bloomberg administration of having a lukewarm commitment to recruitment of minorities.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta acknowledged that the department needs to increase the pool of minority applicants. He said the number of minority recruits at the Fire Academy has increased from 5 or 6 percent to 15 percent during his three-year tenure.

“There is no discrimination,” Scoppetta said. “But if you don’t apply, you can’t get the job.”

Scoppetta said the department has launched aggressive efforts to attract minorities, including having representatives speak at minority churches and community centers.

“I myself have gone to minority churches, publicizing the nature of the job, the importance of the job, the attractions of the job,” he said.

Scoppetta said the department has also started a scholarship program with New York Sports Club to help women and minorities learn the techniques needed to pass the physical training portion of the firefighting exam.

The Justice Department said in February that it was investigating the FDNY for possible discrimination in its hiring practices.

The probe began after the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of the Vulcans in 2002.

Among other things, the Vulcans want the department to reinstate a cadet program that allowed Emergency Medical Services recruits to work toward a promotion to firefighter after two years, Shayana Kadidal, a lawyer for the CCR, said at the news conference.

The sole woman graduating at Wednesday’s ceremony was Daiana Mielnik, who is following in the footsteps of her sister, Kinga Mielnik, a firefighter for two years. The Mielniks are the only sister-sister firefighting team currently in the department.

Daiana Mielnik said she joined because she was inspired by her sister and the courage of the firefighters who responded to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

“More women should join,” she said. “It’s a great job, a brotherhood and sisterhood.”

Lorraine Cziko, who became a firefighter in 1982, said there was not always such camaraderie among the men and women.

“It was tough,” said Cziko, who retired four years ago. “We even had to use the men’s bathrooms with a dead-bolt on the door.”

Cziko said the men wouldn’t even talk to the women firefighters at first, but that things changed after about five years.

“Now you crawl into a fire, shoulder to shoulder,” she said. “It’s a team effort now and everyone is equal.”

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