It is quite likely that some inner-city residents may be visited by the Vulcans this weekend.
The Vulcan Society wants you.
The national organization of Black firefighters is making sure that applicants who filled out the paperwork to take the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) entrance exam scheduled for next month don’t get lost in the shuffle and fall off the map.
Starting this Saturday, Jan. 7, Black firefighters will be knocking on doors of Black applicants to encourage them to follow through and complete their applications.
“There are about 2,000 Black applicants for the Fire Department of New York who haven’t finished the paperwork for their applications or completed their waivers,” said Mike Marshall, first vice president of the Vulcan Society.
During the recruitment drive last year, the city stated that people who were unemployed or in receipt of public assistance could get a waiver so they would not have to pay the $25 fee to apply to take the FDNY exam.
“They had to send in their ID and get a notarized letter stating that they were unemployed. These 2,000 people will not be eligible to take the test if they don’t complete their paperwork by the end of January. We don’t want to lose 2,000 Black applicants,” said Marshall, who works out of Engine 257 in Canarsie.
“We don’t want to lose 2,000 applicants just because they didn’t fill out the paperwork and can’t take the exam,” he said.
The volunteering Vulcans will be knocking on the doors of applicants for the next three Saturdays. “We will be in teams of two going to certain addresses of people who have not completed their waivers or applications,” Marshall explained.
Citing the city’s “pattern and practice of discrimination against Black firefighter candidates,” as well non-whites already on the job, Brooklyn Judge Nicholas Garaufis sided with a lawsuit brought against the FDNY by the Vulcan Society and the Justice Department.
In November, the federal judge appointed former federal prosecutor Mark S. Cohen as a court monitor to ensure diversity in the FDNY’s hiring practices.
The city objected, but the appointment stayed and will be in place for the next 10 years.
“The whole lawsuit was about the city diversifying the FDNY,” said Marshall, a lieutenant with 30 years on the job. “The Vulcans always wanted to help, but the city has always been reluctant. What we are doing, the city could be doing.”
When asked about the city making phone calls to applicants, Marshall was not particularly moved. “Well, sometimes they have gotten no answer or answering machines or the numbers were not correct,” he said. “But we are going to try to assist the FDNY in their efforts. We want to be in touch with the people who have not completed their applications. We want to help them get on the job.”
While the FDNY isn’t exactly in love with the idea, officials recognize that in order to redress the imbalance in a city that is over 60 percent Black and Brown, but with membership of 3 and just over 6 percent, respectively, something’s got to give.
The numbers aren’t great. The FDNY sent the AmNews their racial breakdown on request:
7372 white
314 Black
646 Hispanic
77 Asian
5 Native American
“The firefighters are still only 3 percent and the officers are 2 percent-less than 40 are Black officers. We want to increase the numbers of Blacks on the job,” said Capt. Paul Washington, a 23-year vet who now works out of Engine 234 in Crown Heights.
City attorney Georgia Pestana, chief of the Labor & Employment Law Division of the New York City Law Department, determined, “We continue to have concerns about the Vulcans making unannounced visits to applicants’ homes, but of course we will comply with the court’s order.”
John Coombs, president of the Vulcan Society, told the AmNews, “It’s very important that all of the candidates who applied to join the New York City Fire Department do continue through the process. If they are to receive waivers, they must complete that form and they must complete the application form.”
Coombs reflected on the many years it has taken and the many minds and hearts that toiled in the struggle to get Black men and women into a resistant FDNY. “Whatever it is the applicants need to do to continue the process that so many have worked hard and long for to ensure equality in the New York City fire department, they must do. This is an opportunity for the community as a whole to say thank you by at least doing their part.”
“Around 3,000 out of 60,000 people have not finished their applications About 2,000 [of those] are Black,” said Washington.
Last year’s heavy recruitment drive resulted in 23 percent Black and 23 percent Latino applicants.
Stressing that the mission of the Vulcans has always been simply to address the racial imbalance in the FDNY, Washington said he is not worried about the perception that they are just pushing to get more Black folk on the job, since the numbers were so appalling in a city with a majority Black and Brown population. “A lot of Black candidates just don’t know what a great opportunity this is. Many white candidates have family members on the job who can tell them how great a job it is. They can hold their hands and walk them through the process.
“We won this through Judge Garaufis, through the lawsuit,” Washington said. “The city fought us in every stage, but the judge agreed with us about the FDNY’s pattern of discrimination, and he appointed Mark Cohen to be the court monitor. We argued this plan of home visits in front of him, but the city said that they didn’t agree and didn’t want to give us the list of names of the candidates. The monitor sided with us.”
Lt. Marshall, who works out of Engine 257 in Canarsie, said that applicants will be visited by Black firefighters and officers. “A lot of the Vulcans live in the areas where they work, in the same areas as many of the applicants.”
“We just want to impress upon the people what a great job this is, and to have a Black firefighter there in person telling them this and explaining to them the great benefits has to be a bonus,” Washington concluded.
“In the white community, they might have their father, their cousin or their uncle or their neighbor who is on the job. Not all, but the ones who are the most successful do have this. We just want to give a helping hand to the Black applicants who don’t have this resource in their immediate family but do have it with us.”‘