Pool of Potential Firefighters Diversifies
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The pool of candidates seeking to become New York City firefighters is more diverse than ever in the history of the department, where 90% of firefighters are white males, city officials said yesterday.
The written firefighter exam, which is given every four years, was passed this year by 21,183 test-takers. Among the 4,000 top scorers who are most likely to be called up for hire, 18% are Hispanic, 12% are black, and 3% are Asian. The top pool of the last test in 2002 had 9% Hispanic, 4% black, and 1% Asian.
More than 40% of the 29,600 who applied to take this year’s exam were minorities — more than double the 2002 number.