Firefighters Wayne Ricks and Gary Tinney are decrying a fire department requirement that all new recruits be certified paramedics. They said the new mandate will result in fewer minority applicants and more white, suburban firefighters on the force.
The fire department has a shortage of paramedics, said Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts. The first choice to bolster their ranks would be to train existing firefighters to be paramedics, but it’s proved difficult to find volunteers, he said. That’s why he instituted paramedic certification requirements for the fire academy class that’s currently in training and for the next class coming up.
Tinney (at left in photo) and Ricks (at right), president and second vice-president of the local black firefighters association called the Firebirds, acknowledged the need for paramedics in the department. But the certification requirement will prevent people in the “inner city” from becoming firefighters, Tinney said. People of color generally have less access to the time and resources needed for the expensive training to become a paramedic, he said. The result of the paramedic requirement will be a fire department that doesn’t reflect the diversity of the community it serves, said Tinney and Ricks.
They expressed similar sentiments about another new firefighter requirement: the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT), an independently offered assessment of physical fitness. Smuts said CPAT is a quick, easy, and inexpensive way for the city to ensure the physical fitness of recruits. Tinney and Ricks said it’s one more hurdle that applicants will have to clear, a hurdle that’s relatively higher for people with lesser means or without connections to the fire department.
Together, the paramedic and CPAT requirements create barriers that are more significant for some, Tinney and Ricks said. They will “generate a pool of applicants with no people of color or women,” Tinney predicted.
The black firefighters’ complaints come almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Ricci v. DeStefano, which dealt with issues of race and promotion in the New Haven fire department.
Tinney and Ricks made their comments during an interview in the Firebirds’ Whalley Avenue office.
The new requirements are “making the process unfair,” said Ricks. Many people don’t have the money to go to extra training, nor do they have the time for it, he said. It’s difficult to find a spot in CPAT training courses, which are only offered twice a year and costs $150, he said.
Mark Lewandowski, deputy director of the Connecticut Fire Academy, said that although there are two registration deadlines per year, the CPAT test is offered continuously to all who register. Applicants have never been turned away, he said.
Tinney said the CPAT test is unnecessary anyway, since everyone who goes through the training academy leaves in top shape.
It’s not that women and people of color can’t pass the CPAT, Tinney stressed. But they have less familiarity with the new requirements, he said. The majority of firefighters come from white firefighter families familiar with the recruitment process, Tinney said. It’s easy for them to stay on top of the requirements, and they are more likely to have the resources to meet them, he said. It’s harder for urban residents without connections to find the entry points to joining the force.
Tinney said he’s tired of having to tell young people who have diligently completed EMT training they aren’t ready for the fire academy until they become paramedics and pass the CPAT. He compared the situation to Lucy repeatedly pulling away the football right before Charlie Brown kicks it.
Dennis Thompson, an Ohio-based attorney working on equal employment claims, agreed that paramedic requirements can tend to disadvantage minority and urban candidates relative to white and suburban applicants. Suburban applicants are more likely to be able to pay the money for paramedic training, he said.
Thompson represents Tinney and six other black firefighters in an open disparate impact case against the city, which stems from the same controversial test that led to the Ricci case.
The new paramedic and CPAT requirements could amount to disparate impact or disparate treatment, Thompson said.
Thompson said a good option to level the playing field might be to first hire the best candidates, then require them to become paramedics after they go through the fire academy.
As for the CPAT, Thompson said, “firefighter families tend to get the training,” but “firefighters of color don’t have access to that.” The solution could be to have a day of CPAT training for all candidates, after they are accepted to the fire academy.
With numbers as they are, paramedic firefighters have to respond to more calls than other firefighters, Smuts said. He said he’d like to have 20 paramedics on the force. The fire department currently has only nine, and some of them may retire. Even with a current firefighter academy class of seven paramedics, and three current firefighters interested in being trained, the department still faces a paramedic shortage, Smuts said.
So when the call for new firefighter recruits was sent out by the city on June 7, it stated that applicants to the next class must have a paramedic certification.
Smuts said his preference has been to train existing firefighters to become paramedics, but not many firefighters have volunteered for the training. Tinney said firefighters are hesitant to volunteer because they see how overworked the paramedics are.
Paramedic firefighters earn slightly more per year than regular firefighters, and earn an extra dollar per hour when they are doing paramedic work, Smuts said.
It takes 15 months for an active firefighter to train to become a paramedic, Smuts said. The cost to the city, including paying for the training and the missed work time for classes, is $40,000, he said.
Smuts said it’s not feasible to hire firefighters and then force them to obtain paramedic certification, as Thompson suggested. For instance, if the city needed engineers, it wouldn’t make sense to hire non-engineers and then ask them to become engineers, Smuts said.
As for CPAT, Smuts said he would do an analysis to see if that requirement was having a disparate impact on minority or female candidates. “I’ll take those concerns seriously,” Smuts said.
The benefit of CPAT is that it’s administered by the state, so it’s objective, quick, and easier and less expensive for the city, he said.
Connecticut Fire Academy Deputy Director Lewandowski said CPAT was developed in the 1990s by national firefighter unions and fire chief organizations. Many departments use it as a replacement for the agility tests that are normally administered at fire academies, he said. Most departments in Connecticut use CPAT. The whole CPAT program is eight weeks long and includes an orientation to the equipment, two practice tests, and final testing. Candidates have time to familiarize themselves with the equipment and prepare themselves to pass, Lewandowski said. The test is nationally standardized, fair, and reduces costs for municipal fire departments, which can avoid having to administer their own fitness tests, he said.
Smuts said he can’t predict if the paramedic requirement will continue to be in place for future fire academy classes. The decision will depend on a number of factors, including whether or not the department should shrink overall, Smuts said.
“Right now, we know that we need more paramedics,” he said.
Smuts met with Tinney and Ricks on Thursday to discuss the new requirements. Both sides later characterized it as a productive meeting.
“But I judge things by action,” Tinney said. He said he’d still like to see CPAT be a part of the fire academy, not a prerequisite to entry. He said he’d also like to see the paramedic requirement changed before the next class is seated
Tinney suggested the city could have a new firefighter class in which half the spots are held for certified paramedics and the rest are open to all applicants. Smuts said other towns have systems like that and it’s a possibility for future recruit classes in New Haven. But at this point, the department doesn’t need more regular firefighters, he said; it needs more paramedics.
Tinney also suggested that the city use a consulting company to help find a diverse applicant pool. He said he knows of a company in California that would be appropriate. Tinney said the company could furnish the city with a list of qualified applicants of color.
Smuts said Tinney informed him of this option and he asked Tinney to send him information about it as soon as possible. “I don’t know that they’ll have any lists for people who might be in this area,” Smuts said. “If they do, wonderful. I’m very interested in it.”
“I’m always interested in things that help broaden our recruitment process,” he said. “The important point is to broaden, not narrow.”
Let's get an elective paramedic-prep course in the high schools in New Haven. Teachers can incorporate firefighter candidate requirements into the lesson plan. Is there already an EMT course available in the high schools? Let's do the tough work of education instead of lowering standards. Perhaps the Firebirds could do a workshop in the meantime to educate New Haveners about the process and requirements, and recommend resources needed to achieve the goal of becoming a New Haven Firefighter.