FDNY Weighed EMT Standard For Fire Test

FDNY Weighed EMT Standard For Fire Test

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

Fire Department officials acknowledged last week that the agency had considered the possibility of making Emergency Medical Technician certification a job requirement for candidates wishing to take the Jan. 20 written exam for Firefighter given by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

The information surfaced as this newspaper followed up on statements made in the FDNY's Strategic Plan for 2007-2008 that called for the creation of hybrid Firefighter/EMT and Firefighter/Paramedic titles.

'Never Did It Formally'

An FDNY official confirmed that "there were discussions," but stressed that "no formal request or proposal was submitted."

The discussions took place in-house and with DCAS and did not involve the fire or Emergency Medical Service unions.

The official stressed that "it was only an idea. Ideas get discussed all the time, and only a small percentage ever become reality. At this time, this idea is no longer being actively discussed."

Department sources said that FDNY officials had hoped to get the EMT requirement added to the Notice of Examination released by DCAS that describes test topics and required skills.

The FDNY had also wanted to add a requirement mandating that active-duty EMTs and Paramedics hired off promotional lists keep their medical certifications current even after becoming Firefighters and transferring into the Uniformed Firefighters' Association.

But DCAS officials didn't support the changes, sources said. It wasn't clear if the agency was against blending skill-sets on principle, or simply lacked the preparation time to develop a new civil service test that could withstand legal challenges.

Some Key Obstacles

Several FDNY chiefs who spoke on condition of anonymity said that talk of doing more to merge the EMS and firefighter work forces had been around for some time.

But there are some logistical and financial impediments standing in the way, not the least of which is having to collectively bargain the changes with fire and EMS unions.

Stephen J. Cassidy, head of the UFA, and Patrick J. Bahnken, president of District Council 37 Local 2507, which represents EMTs and Paramedics, have both expressed opposition to merging job descriptions or creating new job lines that might eventually phase-out EMS work.

But according to several labor lawyers familiar with civil service law, the city doesn't have to seek union permission if its wants to add skill-sets to an existing job or create a new hybrid title that collapses two positions into one.

It must, however, work with DCAS to devise an exam, a new job description, hiring criteria, starting salary and other benefits. At some point, one lawyer said, if a new title were created, the affected unions would have to petition the Office of Collective Bargaining to see which one would be allowed to represent the new workers. Then the bargaining over starting salary, pay progression and other benefits would begin.

If additional duties were simply added on to the title of Firefighter, appropriate compensation would have to be collectively bargained as well.

"There's no getting around the unions once they've decided how or if they're going to change the titles," said one lawyer. "They have to bargain at that point."

Many people familiar with the FDNY and EMS questioned whether the department was really considering training Firefighters - whose base pay after 5-1/2 years' service is approximately $63,000 - to do more medical work when it could pay an EMT $39,000 after five years for the same job.

Test's Demographics

FDNY officials expressed satisfaction with the diversity of the candidates who took the Jan. 20 Firefighter exam. The agency had mounted a multi-million dollar recruitment campaign in the months leading up to the test in an effort to attract a broader base of potential recruits. The FDNY is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations of discriminatory hiring practices.

According to FDNY spokesman Tony Sclafani, 29,638 filed for the exam. Of those, 17,257 were white, 5,628 were black, 1,401 were women and the rest were Hispanic, Asian, Native American or unidentified.

Mr. Sclafani said that 13,252 whites, 3,776 blacks and 814 women showed up Jan. 20, meaning that more than 50 percent of each demographic group that had expressed interest in joining the FDNY followed through by taking the exam.

The last time the test was given in 2002, 13,618 whites, 1,357 blacks and 549 women showed up, although they had initially applied in far greater numbers.