A federal judge began to hear testimony today about how New York City’s fire department can attract more minority applicants to an agency currently staffed by a vast majority of white firefighters.
Among the witnesses expected to take the stand at the special bench trial before Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis are several current FDNY firefighters who say they’ve been harassed because they are minorities while serving in a department that’s overwhelming white.
Abusive remarks about the Ku Klux Klan and a firefighter who found a noose in his locker are just a few of the isolated incidents that the judge will hear testimony about, according to lawyers for the Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization for black firefighters.
The judge noted that some of what he will hear undoubtedly will be “the fire department’s dirty linen.”
“There’s a lot of stuff here that’s going to be aired…and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Garaufis said at a hearing last week, stressing that he plans to “let the chips fall where they may.”
The prospect of negative testimony about the experience of serving black firefighters concerns groups that are trying to increase the number of minorities in the FDNY’s ranks, the Vulcan Society has said.
They fear that revelations of racially-tinged incidents could have a chilling effect and actually dissuade minorities from applying to the department.
But John Coombs, a FDNY firefighter who also serves as the president of the Vulcan Society, wants potential applicants to keep the big picture in mind.
“It’s one of the best jobs in the world,” Coombs said.
The Post reported earlier today that more than three times as many black candidates have signed up to take next year’s Fire Department entrance exam than the last one, which was given in 2007.
The FDNY is stepping up its recruitment efforts to get more minorities – especially blacks – to sign up for the test, which will be given early next year.
So far, 640 blacks have registered compared with 184 in 2007.
But about three times as many whites have also applied — 5,484 compared with 1,671.
Today’s special bench trial grows out of a 2007 lawsuit filed against the fire department by the US Justice Department, with the aim of forcing the city to hire more minorities.
The federal discrimination lawsuit claimed that two previous tests used to screen firefighter applicants discriminated against minorities.
Garaufis has ruled previously that the FDNY’s entrance test unfairly discriminates against black and Hispanic applicants.
While blacks represent nearly 26 percent of New York City’s population and Hispanics account for 27 percent, black and Hispanic firefighters comprised just 3.4% and 6.7%, respectively, of the city’s 8,998 firefighters when the civil-rights lawsuit was filed in 2007, the judge stated in his ruling.
Currently, special master Mary Jo White is presiding over an effort to create a new FDNY entrance exam for aspiring firefighters.
Additional reporting by Philip Messing
mmaddux@nypost.com