LEXINGTON, Ky. — The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a Ky. city’s fire department for its employment practices, it was announced Monday.
City officials provided no details about the nature of the investigation, but the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that in the past six years, only five black men and four white women have been included in the 119 graduates of the fire recruit academy.
“This class also has some ethnic diversity,” Assistant Chief Ed Davis said of the newest class of 26 recruits, including a black man and a black woman. “It’s not all Kentucky white boys, but has people who hail from other parts of the country.”
In 2010, the Lexington Division of Fire and Emergency Services admitted that its work force was lacking diversity and began a public effort to recruit more minorities.
Chris Bartley, president of the Lexington Professional Firefighters Local 526, told the Herald-Leader that the union supports “as much diversity as possible in hiring practices, but we have nothing to do with the hiring practices of the city.”