Latest FDNY Firefighter Test has Record Number Applicants

Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano announced on Sept. 20 that the two-month sign-up period for the upcoming Firefighter exam has ended, with more than 61,000 people filing for the test including record-setting numbers of minorities and women.

The ethnic/racial breakdown of applicants is as follows:
     
WHITE 31,014 50.5%
     
BLACK 14,122 23%
     
HISPANIC 14,110 23%
     
ASIAN 1,900 3%
     
NATIVE AMER. 293 0.5%
    
TOTAL 61,439
    
Two-and-a-half times as many Blacks and Hispanics filed for this exam compared to the 2007 test (5,628 Blacks and 5,590 Hispanics), and more than three times as many women applied this year (4,261) as did in 2007 (1,401).

“Our sustained, years-long recruitment effort has attracted the largest and most diverse group of candidates ever,” said Commissioner Cassano. “We successfully built on our 2006/2007 campaign to reach groups traditionally underrepresented in the firefighter ranks, and I want to thank our Office of Recruitment and Diversity for their outstanding work in reaching out and encouraging so many New Yorkers to apply for the upcoming test.”

Commissioner Cassano said the Department is only halfway to its goal, however. “Now, we want to make sure all the applicants come to take the test next year,” he said. The Department will be communicating updates and additional information about the exam through e-mail and phone banks, as well as social media www.twitter.com/joinFDNY and www.facebook.com/joinFDNY.