Fire Test Violations

To the Editor:

Your Feb. 2 issue featured an article on the recent written component of the Firefighter entrance examination. It is unclear how this multiple correct answers format can be scored competitively, as is required under state civil service law for the open-competitive title.

It is clear that the proposed upcoming physical agility component of this exam is not to be scored competitively, in violation of the State Court of Appeals' ruling more than 14 years ago, when the judges unanimously agreed to uphold a lower-court finding that the then-physical exam was valid and scored appropriately, meaning competitively.

Under civil service law, the Firefighter exam must test for merit and fitness and be competitively scored. The Department of Citywide Administrative Services seems not to have learned from history. Its intention to hold the "CPAT" physical agility test has not been validated by any legal body, and the plan to score it pass/fail is not in accordance with the law.

The recently departed Vulcan Society president, Capt. Paul Washington, has been quoted in this paper as calling for the legitimate ('82 and '87 court-approved) physical agility exam to be used in hiring the best-suited candidates as New York's Bravest. He is correct.

A recent article in another newspaper, headlined "Speed Makes the Difference," explained the Court of Appeals ruling this way: a Firefighter candidate who can complete the physical agility exam in under four minutes (a score of 100 percent) has demonstrated a tangible superiority over one who it took seven minutes (a score of 70 percent) to complete. Both candidates' scores can be considered passing, but the two clearly are not equal.

The people of this city, whom we all swore to protect, deserve the best bang for their tax dollar, and firefighter speed does make a difference. It is why fire engines are parked facing out of their firehouses and come with flashing lights and sirens, and why there are poles to slide down.

Millions were spent by the Fire Department on a recruitment drive. Publications were made available to candidates, practice exam classes held, and phone banks staffed to remind candidates to show up for the written exam.

Maybe the CPAT is okay in Podunk (where the starting pay can be higher than for a newly promoted officer in the FDNY), but it is inappropriate here. All of us who ride the big red trucks are bound by our sworn oath to protect the citizens from fires and other emergencies. The dilution of entrance standards qualifies as an "other emergency."

RICHARD PATTERSON, Captain, FDNY