New York City yesterday won approval from a judge to begin hiring firefighter applicants who recently passed an entrance examination redesigned to make it fairer to minorities.
The decision will allow the city to begin rebuilding the ranks of the nation’s largest fire department, which has not been allowed to hire a new class of firefighters since a 2007 Justice Department lawsuit faulted the agency’s racial imbalance.
Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis lauded the city’s collaborative efforts to work with educational-testing experts and court-appointed special master Mary Jo White to construct an entrance exam that does not discriminate against minorities.
Earlier this week, the city announced that nearly half of the 9,400 applicants who secured scores of 97 or better on the latest FDNY written exam are minorities.
“The FDNY’s strong commitment to diversity was evident in our recruitment campaign for this exam where 46 percent of the test takers were people of color — the same overall percentage of minorities at the top of this list,” said Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano.