BY ERIN DURKIN
City Council members are turning up the heat on the FDNY to hire more women as firefighters.
Only 44 of the department’s 10,500 firefighters are women – a mere 0.4%.
“This is simply unacceptable,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Queens), chair of the fire committee. “It is time we break down any barriers that still exist for women to become New York City firefighters.”
New York lags cities like San Francisco, with 15% female firefighters, and Seattle, with 8%. The national average is 4.5%.
At a Council hearing, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro revealed he’s overhauled the rules at the fire academy to give less weight to physical tests known as Functional Skills Training. FST will count as part of a probationary firefighter’s overall grade, but they will no longer be barred from graduating solely because they don’t pass.
He also plans to hire an outside consultant next year to review the department’s entire physical training program and the impact it may have on women.
But Nigro said the main problem is with recruitment. “So far, we have not done a good job in recruiting women who have the physical ability and the desire to be firefighters,” he said.
Pols and advocates were more critical of the academy, insisting women are subjected to too-rigorous physical requirements that aren’t necessary for the job.
“There are unnecessary and unvalidated physical tests that have harmed women,” said Sarinya Srisakul, president of United Women Firefighters.
The FDNY was unable to provide stats on how many women take FST and how many pass, though they said a higher proportion of women fail than men.
The Council is considering a bill that would require the department to track and make public gender and race stats on applicants at every stage of the process of joining the FDNY.
Overall, 85% of the of the last four academy classes have graduated. Before joining the academy, applicants must take a separate physical exam which 95% of men and and 60% of women pass, officials said.
The next academy class, which begins later this month, has about 10 women in a class of 300.
There are also smaller barriers that have turned off women to firefighting. At least 50 of the city’s firehouses still lack women’s bathrooms, officials said. They hope to have them all equipped by the end of 2016. They’ve also had to change the locks on the women’s facilities to prevent male firefighters from using them, and will now only give women keys.
Nigro said he’d like to see a force that’s 15-17% female, and plans ad campaigns and outreach to veterans groups and other organizations to recruit women. But meaningful change is likely years down the road – the next exam for would-be firefighters is not until 2017.
The FDNY already faces court orders to increase its racial diversity, and Public Advocate Letitia James said the same thing could happen on gender, though she hoped it would not come to that.
“I am ready, willing, and able to file an additional lawsuit,” she said.
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