By Tony Plohetski
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2007 The Austin American-Statesman
All Rights Reserved
AUSTIN, Texas — Leaders of Austin’s African American firefighters association have asked city officials to cancel a firefighting academy scheduled to begin in April, because the class will have no black students.
City and fire officials said Tuesday that they are disappointed at the class’s lack of diversity but that the academy will go on as planned.
They said the class is necessary to fill more than a dozen vacancies, which are expected to increase as more firefighters retire this year.
“I understand the frustration with recruiting, especially recruiting minorities,” Austin Fire Chief J.J. Adame said. “I feel the same sort of frustration. Our goal is to strive for a diverse work force.”
The lack of diversity in the upcoming class is the latest struggle in the department’s efforts to attract more women and minorities to a department that has for decades been dominated by white men.
Its efforts have met challenges in recent months: Last year, an African American woman attending the department’s training academy sued the city after she was fired, claiming discrimination.
And last fall, a recently promoted female firefighter found human excrement smeared on her locker and urine in a shampoo bottle at a Duval Road fire station. Austin police are still investigating that incident.
White firefighters make up 78 percent of the department, and about 6 percent are black, according to statistics.
Bobby Johns, president of the Austin African-American Firefighters Association, said he was disappointed to learn that no blacks will be in the April academy.
“Our belief is that it doesn’t go with the direction of diversifying the department,” he said. “For us to be the only ones not represented in that class is disheartening.”
Adame said the class of 18, who will make up for current vacancies, will have one woman, two Hispanics, an American Indian and an Asian American.
Cadets were chosen from a roster of about 130 applicants last year based on their physical endurance test scores and interviews, among other criteria.
The department hired 85 applicants last year and sent them through an academy that graduated in February. That group included five African Americans, 11 Hispanics, two Asian Americans and three mixed-race applicants.
However, none of the next 18 people on the list was black, Adame said.
He said that he considered canceling the class until the department could create another roster this summer but that it would cause officials to rely on overtime to maintain staffing levels in the meantime.
“It’s a hard one,” he said. “We are struggling to figure out what we are going to do, but our plan right now is to move forward.”