I just discovered this blog, and did some research on your run and your victory… outstanding! Give ‘em hell!

This is outstanding! As you say, being a firefighter involves more than one might think at first glance. It IS about serious study and a keen understanding of fire science in addition to “packing the gear!”

Keep up the good work, my friend!

LT Mark Ingoglio
AH Wicks Engine and Truck Company
Kingston, NY

“Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that written exams administered to FDNY applicants in 1999 and 2002 were invalid because they only tested cognitive skills — reading and written comprehension, while oral comprehension and oral expression were largely ignored. The result was a large disparity between white and minority applicants’ successes.

Now the judge may force the city to hire three minorities for every two new white firefighters.

“How does a written test know what color you are?,” Mannix asked, noting that he is speaking as an individual, not for the department. “The job of a firefighter is consistently evolving. There are always new procedures, equipment and challenges that require you to know how to read.”

Those new challenges, according to Mannix, include dealing with terrorism-related issues and medical emergencies; servicing radiation and carbon monoxide detectors; and using new pieces of equipment such as life-saving ropes and fire window blankets.

“We are not advocating that you have to be functionally illiterate to be a firefighter,” said Darius Charney, an attorney representing the Vulcan Society, a fraternal order of black firefighters and the plaintiffs in the case. But he added, “The reading level required is way lower than what they test for, which is at a mid-college level.”

Charney says his organization, the Center for Constitutional Rights, surveyed and deposed dozens of FDNY firefighters of various ranks, many of them white, to determine which skills are most important to the job. Oral communication skills and the ability to follow directions overwhelmingly topped the list.

Charney explained that other skills related to understanding the science of fires as well as how to handle radiological and biological attacks are taught during fire academy training.

Mannix disagreed and placed great importance on reading comprehension. He says he studied diligently for three years in order to acquire the necessary knowledge to be promoted to lieutenant. “I walked around with a milk crate full of books,” he said. “I studied everything from the mundane to the highly technical.”

He suggests that applicants who are having difficulties passing the FDNY’s written exam invest in tutoring, prep courses or other resources aimed at improving test scores. Charney, however, does not believe that is a feasible solution.

“Most of the applicants come from outside of New York City,” he said. “Schools in the suburbs are superior to schools in the city. That’s just a fact. So, unless you fix the public education system, there is going to be a disparity between how whites score on standardized tests as opposed to blacks and Hispanics.”

If the city does not appeal the judge’s ruling, it will be forced to create a new exam; establish a process for the victims to receive monetary compensation and retroactive seniority; and institute priority hiring — selecting two blacks and one Hispanic from a designated pool as part of every five new individuals hired.

Mannix fears the ruling could snowball into a myriad of detrimental consequences. He believes it would add underqualified individuals to the force making the job more dangerous. And, he says, it will create a sense of resentment within the firehouse, especially if these same individuals are promoted over more competent white counterparts.

Charney says that since the questionable exams did not accurately test the skills necessary to be a firefighter it is unfair to assume that the unchosen applicants are unqualified, though he acknowledges that the judge’s ruling may cause resentment.

“They may be under the impression that this is just a group of black people who are looking for a free ride, but that is not what this is about,” Charney said. “This is about fixing the testing system to accurately measure who is qualified for the job.”

In order to correct that misconception, he believes everyone in the Fire Department from captains to officers should provide support for minority employees in order to protect them from being subjected to a hostile work environment.

Mannix, meanwhile, hopes to spread his message by expanding Merit Matters nationwide. The organization will continue to tackle FDNY issues, refute what it sees as false claims, seek help from outside agencies when needed, engage the public through the use of the media and demand equal treatment for all.

“We believe in equal opportunity, not guaranteed results,” says the group on its website. “We want standards to be high, meaningful, equally applied and blind to race, gender or ethnicity. Written and physical exams should ensure that the most applicants are chosen; they should not be designed to have as many applicants as possible pass.”

Members of the New York City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus held a press conference at City Hall on Feb. 3 urging the mayor to let the judge’s ruling stand.

It’s time for Mayor Bloomberg to act,” Paul Washington, former president of the Vulcan Society, said in a statement. “He can either be remembered as the mayor who helped integrate FDNY or as the mayor who tried and failed to stop FDNY’s integration. Either way, 145 years of an all-white Fire Department will almost certainly be coming to a close.”

Bloomberg declined to comment about the FDNY case or whether the city would appeal the judge’s decision, though Stu Loeser, the mayor’s press secretary, offered the following statement: “The Fire Department is justifiably proud that their outreach work led to minorities now being more than one out of every three people on the list to be hired as firefighters.”

In another effort to promote diversity within the FDNY, City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) who also attended Wednesday’s press conference, has re-introduced legislation that would give any firefighter candidate who has a diploma or GED from a city high school or testing center an additional eight-point credit on the exam.

“Despite the advances our society has made from the White House to the Supreme Court, there are still challenges and hurdles that have to be overcome with respect to color barriers,” Comrie said in a prepared statement. “In New York City and in Albany, an ugly stain has been perpetuated, and it is incumbent for people of goodwill to stand up and say this is wrong.”

Mannix disagrees with the eight-point credit, which when combined with a residency credit would give an applicant a 13 point advantage. “That’s astronomical,” he said. “We’re chipping away at standards.”

He said that is especially true because the 2007 test, was “designed to get as many applicants as possible to pass,” according to information given to Mannix by an unnamed FDNY source.

The remedy phase of the case, which will establish a road map for how the dispute should be resolved, will begin in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on Feb. 16. Charney is “fairly certain” the city will appeal the judge’s decision when given the opportunity.

“This is a fairly complicated case and will go on for months,” Charney said.

Washington, however, hopes the case will proceed swiftly. “We need to stop being in denial and accept what’s been decided and move forward,” he said. “It has been confirmed by independent groups who have no axe to grind with the city.”"