Copyright 2006 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC
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By ELIZABETH SOLOMONT
The New York Sun
The Fire Department laid out a recruiting campaign yesterday to counter pointed questions about its diversity. The Justice Department has launched a discrimination investigation.
Fire Department officials, besieged in recent months by high-profile allegations of racism within the department, called the impending campaign an unprecedented push to attract minorities and women at a hearing of the City Council’s Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services yesterday.
Officials said they hope to reach those candidates starting in August, when the city begins filing applications for candidates who want to take the firefighter exam, which is offered every four years.
According to Fire Department figures, among the city’s 11,491 firefighters, 327 are black, 590 are Hispanic, five are Native American, 66 are Asian, and 33 are women.
“It is inexcusable that 65 percent of the city is comprised of people of color and only 5.4 percent are represented in the Fire Department,” a council member, Miguel Martinez, said yesterday.