Misc,etc.

[BMIG]

Who's getting on their soap box to make a grab at the lt spot opening at squad 2? Oh don't act like you don't know :eek:

[Loo for life]

Know one old LT not interested..... :cool: Leaves approx. 170+ more tho.
Love the thought of getting the training! Wouldn't relish the thought of riding that fine piece of FD Apparatus etc. etc. etc.

Hey who say's I can't be politically correct about SG's...


BTW who's leaving? always the last too know ;)

[Phantom]

#2 platoon OIC leaving, what is an SG's

[Loo for life]

SQUAD GOD's or guy's depending on how you view it....

[BMIG]

Why didn't the county want the ol' Spec Ops troops to come and dig in over in Suitland? Anne Arundel got a mutual aid phone call though.

I guess they are taking a hard line about you folks coming over the border.

[captain4life]

Must be the hair thing

[BMIG]

Baltimore Sun > news
City Fire Department recruits 1st all-white class in 50 years
Recruitment procedure, entrance exam blamed for lack of diversity
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By Reginald Fields
Sun Staff
Originally published April 20, 2004






For the first time since it integrated 50 years ago, the Baltimore City Fire Department has hired an all-white class of recruits for its training academy.

A group of retired black city firefighters, many of whom became pioneers when they integrated the Fire Department in the 1950s and 1960s, are accusing Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. of stamping on racial progress and violating the tenets of the Civil Rights Act.

"The chief has set this department back 50 years with this group," said retired firefighter Alfred Boyd, referring to the 30 men and women in this year's recruiting class.

A fire official called the class an anomaly, saying the department had followed its normal hiring procedures. But the agency is reacting with a couple of quick fixes - including allowing six blacks to skirt the hiring process and join the academy on a conditional basis, and requesting that the entrance test be changed.

In a city where 65 percent of the residents are black, only about 25 percent of its 1,700 firefighters and paramedics are racial minorities. The department said it does not break down the minority figure by individual races.

The retired black firefighters, eight of whom recently met to discuss their discontent with Goodwin and the department's recruiting efforts, have met with the chief's staff to voice their concerns but said they didn't get a sympathetic response.

Goodwin, a third-generation firefighter who was appointed chief in February 2002 by Mayor Martin O'Malley, did not return four calls for comment left for him over the past week. Goodwin's staff confirmed that the chief had received each message.

Other fire officials acknowledge that the lack of minorities in the academy class is something the department needs to address.

"The department, from the division chief of personnel on down, was concerned something like this would happen," said James Gardner, a department spokesman. "It was just one of those anomalies where a great number of minorities did not take the test and, number two, a great number of them did not score high on the test."

Goodwin assumed his post at a time when some at the department felt the agency too often overlooked minorities in recruiting and promoting. Some city officials quietly worried that Goodwin would not do enough about the situation.

City Councilman Bernard C. "Jack" Young, who grudgingly supported Goodwin's appointment in 2002, said the racial makeup of the current class "is unbelievable."

"This is the history of our Fire Department as it relates to recruiting minorities and people from the city," Young said. "I don't want to discredit the chief, but ultimately this reflects on him."

Young and other council members have called for the matter to be discussed by the City Council. Young is chair of the executive appointments committee which approved Goodwin's hiring and handles his job performance reviews.

"He was already here for his review, but knowing this, we can always bring him back," said Young.


Desegregation

The first black city firefighter was hired in December 1953, but a culture of segregation and racism remained in firehouses for nearly 15 years more, according to a 1971 lawsuit against the city.

In that suit, four black city firefighters won a decision ordering the department to change a promotional system that favored whites because it was weighted by years of service. Many black firefighters had been driven out of the department by harassment and thus few had the required longevity.

The current class of recruits has been training since February and is expected to graduate this summer.

The Fire Department interviewed several black candidates who had passed the entrance exam but in nearly every case the person was disqualified for failing either a criminal background check or drug screening, said department spokesman Kevin Cartwright.

Generally, the Fire Department interviews the top-scoring candidates of an entrance exam. Occasionally, that top group has not included minorities, and the Fire Department has skipped over higher-scoring white candidates to get to black applicants.

"That's the other side of the coin, how many times did we pass over others in order to reach down on the list to do what we wanted to do," Gardner said. "In other words, we would have had to pass over them again to get further down the list."


Other problems

More than its racial makeup, the academy's class has exposed deeper problems with the way the Fire Department recruits, a point on which both the retired officers and Goodwin's administration agree.

Despite fire officials' claims of a department philosophy on hiring city residents, only five of the 30 recruits are from Baltimore. Sixteen are from surrounding Maryland counties and nine are from Pennsylvania, according to a list provided to the retired firefighters.

The Fire Department said it does not advertise in Pennsylvania, or in Baltimore, because it doesn't have an advertising budget. The department said it relies on word of mouth when the entrance exam is to be offered, which might only be once every two or three years.

And some of the retired firefighters and department administrators say the entrance test - formerly administered by the Civil Service Commission and now handled by the city's Department of Human Resources - is based too heavily on prior firefighting knowledge and not enough on general aptitude.

Many of the current recruits had experience with volunteer or auxiliary Fire Departments in their hometowns prior to taking the entrance exam, Gardner said. The implication is that prior knowledge provides a slight edge on the test over those without such experience.

A fire training program at Walbrook Uniform Services Academy, a West Baltimore high school, is the only active program intended to familiarize city residents with firefighting duties, fire officials said.

"My opinion is that the test had an adverse impact on minorities taking it," said retired firefighter Henry Burris. "We have found that the test administered had some built-in biases."

Charles Brown, the Fire Department's chief of personnel, said he did not entirely disagree. In fact, the Fire Department has asked human resources to change some questions on the test so that it has "less adverse impact," Brown said.

"The situation that we have here is that there's not a great number of minority candidates that we were getting from the results of the test," Brown said.

Elliott L. Wheelan, executive director of the Department of Human Resources, the office that administers the entrance exam, defended the test.

"There's nothing I've heard that suggests that there was anything improper about the test," said Wheelan. "At this point, there is no definitive effort or acknowledgment that a new test is needed."

Wheelan did say, however, that replacement exams from a variety of testing companies are being considered at the Fire Department's request. "That doesn't mean that we will change anything," he said.

In November 2002, the last time the entrance test was offered, 836 people took it and 434 passed, Wheelan said.

From that passing group, a recruit class of 40 - including 10 minorities - was hired last year. That list was also used to hire the current class.

Brown said the Fire Department plans to hire a third class from the list this year or early next year.

Brown would not say if there were minorities still on the list who have not yet been interviewed or disqualified and therefore might be eligible for the third class. If not, the department could face fielding a second consecutive all-white class.

Brown referred those questions to Wheelan. Wheelan said his agency does not ask applicants' race and that he doesn't know how many minorities, if any, remain on the list.

Brown said the Fire Department has already begun working to ensure future recruiting classes are diversified.

Since the recruits begin training in February, the Fire Department has added six recent black Walbrook graduates to the academy, Brown said.

The Fire Department circumvented its own rules to get the black recruits into the class by allowing them to skip the entrance exam, which normally must be passed to be eligible for the academy. However, even if they complete the academy, the Walbrook members are not guaranteed a job until they pass an entrance exam.

"In my mind, that's an act of desperation, an attempt to cover up something that should never have been allowed," said retired Deputy Chief Clyde J. Smith. "It's window dressing."


Possible changes

Brown said that more than 100 students are enrolled in fire training classes at Walbrook, and that the Fire Department is considering starting a similar program citywide through other schools.

The Fire Department also said it may develop an advertising and marketing budget to reach out to more city residents and minorities.

The department has also discussed offering the entrance exam more frequently.

And the department plans to reach out to the Vulcan Blazers, a fraternal organization of retired and active black firefighters, some of whose members have complained about the current class, to help recruit minorities.




Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun | Get home delivery

[eng123]

I have 2 questions for BIMG I don't care too much either way but here we go.
1. Are you black and upset with yourself.
2. I don't recall too many females in the classes 50 years ago are they going to be upset also I do believe they didn't start getting into fire department until about 1970's.

"Generally, the Fire Department interviews the top-scoring candidates of an entrance exam. Occasionally, that top group has not included minorities, and the Fire Department has skipped over higher-scoring white candidates to get to black applicants. "

He or She who has the most qualifications and scores the highest should get the job. I own a business and lets say I hire someone who is afraid of heights and or ladders it would be hard for them to put a new roof on so why don't they get a job doing something else on the ground like digging basements or landscaping it is in the same area pay wise just a different job.

[BMIG]

ENG123

I agree with your assesment that those who score highest should be awarded the job.

But the test should be geared so that no one applicant will have an advantage over another. Apparently you missed some things that were in the article.

1. The department does not advertise when it is giving a test. It relies on word of mouth.
2.The test is heavily geared to those who have firefghting experience and not to general apptitude.

Those two areas right there already narrow down your applicant field.


Why would have I to be upset with myself if I were Black? I post articles such as these to broaden peoples perspectives within the fire service, not for my personal enjoyment. :D

[staticx]

I thought this was the DCFD forums, not the BCFD forums, I could care less if they hired 50 illegal aliens.

[Phantom]

It could open up an interesting discussion on DCFD recruiting/or lack there of and the results.

[BMIG]

I thought this was the DCFD forums, not the BCFD forums, I could care less if they hired 50 illegal aliens.



This thread is titled 'misc etc'. That means items not necessarily dealing with any one specific subject 'ie' dcfd.

That article deals with the fire service though not dcfd. So are you trying to tell me that we don't have and/or share the same problems other city fire depts have? If you believe that one....you'll believe that they've finished 20 engines' station. :D


ETA- Didn't the dept just do a word of mouth hiring call not long ago.

[Brooks]

The single most important factor affecting the future performance of the department is the quality of the new employees it hires.

Lately there has been little or no selection based on intellectual attributes...the written test contains a large portion of subjective questions for which there is no correct answer. More to the point, the ordered list created by ranking the performance of test takers is largely irrelevant, as the list is almost completely exhausted before it is retired.

There is also little or no selection based on physical ability. The PAT as administered by the department does not select the best applicants, it merely excludes the extremely inadequate.

As of now, there is no method to select applicants based on heart, courage, or fortitude.

There are also now two hiring routes that completely bypass the standard selection process: lateral transfers from EMS/other divisions; and the Fire Cadet program.

None of the three routes of entry is particularly good at guaranteeing quality employees.

I propose that the following hiring methods & processes be implemented to improve the intellectual and physical charactaristics of new hires, as well as improve the proportion of women and minority hires:

1: Offer a written test more frequently: preferably daily or weekly, but at least quarterly. "Traditional" applicants, sons of firefighters, and volunteers, make time for department hiring exams, and travel for miles to do so. "Non-traditional" applicants do not. The size of the question bank would have to be increased. One possibility would be to go to computer based testing. I know that you can make an appointment and take the GRE anytime you want. Have the score on this test determine your rank order, but do not 'expire' the list: if you score 85 in january, and I score 86 in february, I go to the list ahead of you (if you havent been hired yet).

2: Advertise at & recruit students from high schools and colleges within the district of columbia. Provide afternoon & weekend test prep classes and PAT prep courses, preferably free of charge to city residents. Continue to give a 5pt bonus to city residents. Consider giving another 5pt bonus to those people who have worked for the city for 1 year or more.

3: Semiannually, or quarterly, as the department sees fits, offer the IAFF CPAT to the top recruits currently on the list. Hire in order from the list those who pass the CPAT, medical, psych, and background tests.

4: Close other avenues of employment to the uniformed divisions of the DCFEMSD. Better recruitment and more accessible testing will increase the number of women & minorities taking the entrance exam. Pre-employment practice & classes will increase the performance of women & minorities being hired. (Both apparent problems with the recent Baltimore class). All personnel in the uniformed division having come through the same pipeline will improve the unity and performance of the division.

5*: During probation, state and enforce standards of performance. Terminate those who do not meet said standards. (Continue to do so throughout career)

[captain4life]

Brooks ideas:

:D

The cost factor for the city will be too high, and who will do the work to keep track of all those who take the test. Try to work with the currently recruiting officer, and see what hoops he has to go through with the current system, for your idea to work this office will be expanded by a factor of 30.

I believe the better solution is to test once a year, Advertise at & recruit students from high schools and colleges within the District of Columbia. Provide afternoon & weekend test prep classes and PAT prep courses, preferably free of charge to city residents. Continue to give a 5pt bonus to city residents. Consider giving another 5pt bonus to those people who have worked for the city for 1 year or more.
At the end of one year, this list dies, and new test is then given, everyone starts from square one.

Yes use the IAFF CPAT to the top recruits currently on the list. Hire in order from the list those who pass the CPAT, medical, psych, and background tests.

Give a time frame, and then close the lateral transfers from EMS/other divisions. Have a plan what to do with these divisions, if the decision is that EMS, and communications should then taken over, the lets put a process in that firefighters should be assigned to these duties for a time period, you can make it a promotion requirement to various ranks -that you have to be assigned to one of these division for a period of time; however, I do not believe you can end the Fire Cadet program, but state and enforce the rules.

[captain4life]

Here is a thought - :D

the only test you have a passing score is the technicians test <wagon driver, truck driver, tillerman [tip operator]>

there is no other test that a passing score grade needed. Perhaps its time to start looking into having Sgts, Lts, and Capt’s have a minimum grade on the promotions test.

Hell - I just settle for stated requirements for BFC, and then follow these requirements once stated instead of the system we now have.

[BMIG]

I think the minimum score idea would work well for promotional exams. Example... you would have to score a minimum of 60(just throwing out a #) to continue on to the next part of an exam.


MPD uses this in their promotional exam process. If testers don't make the cut off they don't move on in the process.

[Brooks]

As far as the cost of testing is concerned, I'd have no problem with non-city residents bearing the cost of testing themselves: i.e. sign up to take the DCFD entrance exam, pay the test fee of $75 (waived once per year per city resident).

Minimum passing score is fine as long as you still hire/promote in rank order: I'd hate to have all persons who passed rated as "equally qualified" a la the current EMS promotional system.

I don't want to end the Cadet program, I just want to improve the odds of getting good employees out of it...seems that the one time cadets who are now sgts, lts, and capts are a world apart from the recent unpleasantness from the Cadet program.

[Phantom]

Brooks what does your signature translate as?

[Brooks]

It's a line from beowulf: For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for our end. Let whoever can win glory before death.

[captain4life]

Hiring test:

Written score 70% passing grade
PAT have a scoring system, if you do the minimum time on each activity you get a 70%, have a max time for 100% for each event, average the whole exam, to get one grade, but you will still need a 70% average to pass.

Then average the written score with the pat score, add whatever points [vets, residency, employment] then you will get you rank order based upon an overall score.

Promotion test:

Passing written score of 70%, then add the assessment score.

BFC and above– Let the court system or Patterson bill answer that one.

[Loo for life]

We couldn't have a minimum score cause then we never would have promoted 53 "High Quality" Captains off of ONE promotional list!!! :D Lest we not forget this was out of 65 at the time wooo hooo..

Where would our department be had that not occured and sorry to any Captain who was say above number errr 20 or 25 at best if your offended :cool:

As for Technician Testing this new contract is a godsend you will now be able to remove a techncian from postion instead of hearing that famous line
" I only had to know it for one day "...

God I love this forum

[regs1]

Loo for life:

Most of those 53 "High Quality" Captains past the number 25 are now bfc's, its those who scored in the top 25 that has been passed over; what a perfect world we live in.

By the way don't forget to fill out the OPM survey, and mark off the mentally challenged box, it works for me. :D, explains a lot too

[staticx]

Loo, are you saying that technicians are gonna be evaluated now, or am I reading your post wrong?

[Loo for life]

Yes, the newly negotiated contract allows for removal of a Technician of course it will have to be a lengthy process which is fine becasue most of those that cannot do the job will provide you with enuff rope anyway!

Now remember I am not bad mouthing anyone who were a part of that 53 I know most and they are for the most part all good men in general, but come on just that we are now gonna place a cutoff standard LOL... :rolleyes:


BTW they recinded that survey and those that were filled out were sumarily disposed of yeeeee haaaaa!! DOOOOOH :eek:

[regs1]

Loo for life:

Don't worry, I am one of the ones who scored in the top 20 had a 71 score, and have been passed over so many times, I am not even a road bump anymore. ;), I guess I am on the bad boy list of thompsons :D
I know the opm officer test survey was taken back, but as of last wed they still wanted the personal info survey filled out, at least according to one of the new chiefs from the mid level of the food chain list. other than that what can one say

[BMIG]

I'm listening to WTOP and the lead secret service agent on the detail when former Pres. Reagan was shot was reliving the incident. He stated that when DC Fire Dept medics arrived, and were starting to transport chief of staff James Brady they inquired what hospital were they going to.

The medic stated that they were going to wash hosp center. He told the medics that under no circumstances were they going to wash hosp center. He told them G.W. hosp was the white house primary hosp. The dc medic told him that he didn't know how to get to G.W. from the Hilton(I think it was). The agent said he told the medic to get the hell out of the driver seat or be thrown from the unit. He said he then drove the dc medic unit to G.W. hosp.

[Hornet's Nest]

And this one time at band camp...