Vulcans Call Grads Too White
Not All Cheer 274 'Bravest'

By ARI PAUL

The Fire Department Jan. 16 graduated 274 Probationary Firefighters, but the fact that only five of them were black spurred criticism by the president of the FDNY Vulcan Society.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane CARRYING ON LEGACY OF FALLEN: New Probationary Firefighters Matthew Pujdak (left), Robert Wallace and Scott LaPiedra graduated the Fire Academy Jan. 16. Mr. Wallace and Mr. La Piedra are sons of firefighters who died in the line of duty. Mr. Pujdak's brother, Daniel, died fighting a blaze last June.

Firefighter John Coombs lamented to reporters before the ceremony in Colden Auditorium at Queens College that the graduating class was 88-percent white, backing up the society's claim that the 1999 and 2002 written entrance exams had an unlawful disparate impact on African-American and Latino candidates. The Vulcans are an intervening plaintiff in a Federal civil rights lawsuit challenging those exams.

'Still Lacks Diversity'

"As we graduate another class in the Fire Department, it's still lacking diversity," he said. "It's just obvious that nothing much is going to change."

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane SAME OLD STORY: John Coombs. the president of the Vulcan Society of black firefighters, told reporters before the Fire Academy graduation ceremony that since only five of 274 graduates were black, there was little proof that the department was diversifying.

In the new class, produced from those who passed the 2002 exam and a subsequent physical test, 241 are white men, five are African American men, 25 are Latino men, two are Asian men and one is a white woman.

"These graduating classes do not reflect New York City residents," said Capt. Paul Washington, the former Vulcan president, in a phone interview.

An FDNY spokesman said that over the past six probationary classes nearly 21 percent of the graduates have been minorities, and that while the latest numbers are low, the department ran a successful recruitment campaign that resulted in minorities making up 38 percent of the 21,183 successful candidates for the January 2007 written exam. He added that of the 4,000 highest scorers, 33 percent were minorities and that this figured to translate into more minority hiring than before.

The spokesman estimated that 30 percent of graduating Fire Academy students would be minorities in future classes.

Lengthier Training

The graduates completed 23 weeks of training at the Fire Academy on Randall's Island. The most recent graduating class in August had 18 weeks of training, which was up from 13 weeks previously.

"Today, you join the storied ranks of the greatest fire department that has ever existed," Mayor Bloomberg told the graduates in his speech. "This class has received more advanced training than any other in the city's history, and I am confident the skills you learned will better prepare you to handle any type of emergency, anywhere, at any time."

In this class, 22 graduates were veterans of the U.S. military.

Among the graduates was Matthew P. Pujdak, whose Firefighter brother Daniel was killed while responding to a fire last June in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Graduate Robert Wallace is the son of Lieut. Robert Wallace, who died responding to the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Scott LaPiedra, another of the graduates, is the son of a Fire Captain of the same name who died of burns he suffered a decade ago when a Brooklyn building collapsed.

The other Probationary Firefighters are Michael W. Abbott, Daniel J. Abramowski, Peter J. Abreu, James R. Adamo, Michael J. Agliato, Eric Akerberg, Joseph J. Alaimo, Terrence Alexander, David M. Altamura, Joseph N. Ambrosio, Scott R. Amendola, Gregory F. Andronico, Johnny Arce, Nicholas J. Arena, Jon-Paul Aubry, Andrew Azzarello, Cody J. Baker, Brian P. Barr, Hugh R. Barr, Dwight D. Barriga, Kevin M. Bellingham, Paul J. Bencivenga, Salik K. Bey, Rafal J. Bien, Jeffrey R. Bishop, Robert J. Blake, Jared L. Bones, Vincenzo J. Bosco, Michael W. Brancato, Carmelo F. Bravata, Jr., Ian G. Brennan, Matthew P. Brennan, William J. Breslin, Brian J. Broggy, Dominick P. Buglione, Andrew J. Burhart, Michael P. Burns, Sean M. Cahill, Joseph D. Calcagno, John B. Calia, Julio C. Casado, Dale Catlett, Robert M. Cestaro Jr., Ryan P. Charkowick, Thomas J. Christensen, Anthony J. Ciappa, Michale C. Clancy, Christopher M. Collier, Kames Condit, Patrick J Conway, Jose J. Cordero; Erick J. Costello, Daniel J. Crowley, Jason J. Cruz, Brian E. Cullen, Thomas J. Daly, Jeffrey D. Daniels, Philip J. Darcey, Anthony J. Deko, Matthew E. DeMatteis, Louis E. DeMuth Jr., Matthew S. DiLeo, Salvatore J. DiLorenzo, Joseph L. DiMicelli, Brian N. DiNobile, Elio J. DiTrento, James T. Donnelly, William D. Donoghue, Brian J. Dorn, Brian F. Dorsey, John R. Dreher, Kevin R. Duddy, Kevin R. Dwyer, Thomas J. Edwards, Eric C. Egglinger, Kyle R. Esquirol, Robert I. Favata, Patrick J. Feehan, Joseph R. Ferris, Justin A. Filimon, Brian N. FitzGerald, Kevin M. Fitzpatrick, Patrick H. Fitzsimmons, Daniel T. Flanagan, Joseph M. Forrest, Michael C. Foschi, Shaun M. Frank, Brandon L. Froelich, Robert F. Fucci Jr., Thomas J. Furlong, Travis J. Gallagher;

Sebastian Gambino, Richard V. Garcia, Jacob S. Gardener, Michael T. Gardner, Matthew D. Gargagliano, Thomas G. Garitano, Dominick V. Gaudio, Philip Giordano, Salvatore Giustino, Rene Gonzalez, Robert J. Goohs, Daniel X. Gray, Michael Grigoli, Kristopher M. Grills, Nicholas E. Gubelli, Kenneth Guerin, Anthony L. Guest, Kevin G. Hallinan, Kievon Y. Harper, Gregory M. Hasemann, John Healy, Jose I. Hernandez, Thomas J. Herrick, Daniel J. Heubel, Kevin F. Hillmann, Daniel P. Hogan, James T. Hollywood, Peter B. Holmes Jr., Thomas M. Horan, Keith R. Huggler, Shaun E. Ihne, Ryan P. Jacobson, Brendan F. Johnson, Kyle A. Jones, Michael J. Keane, John W. Keaveney, Keith R. Kelleher, John J. Kelly, Edward A. Kelly IV, Kyle T. Kelty, Derek T. Kern, Matthew Kioskerides, Craig T. Kleinschmidt;

Bradley J. Kopczyk, Marcin P. Kotowski, Kirk A. Kowalchuk, James M. Lafferty, Brian A. Lampasso, Kevin J. Lavelle, Brendan P. Lee, Steven A. Leone, Richard A. Liso, Michael G. Liverani, Thomas J. Long, Joshua T. Lossmann, Michael D. Maher, Daniel J. Mahoney, Mathew J. Marin, Thomas J. Marlin, Keith C. Marsh, John P. Martin, Sosthenes D. Martins, Mark J. Massa, Anthony T. Mastrogiovanni, Adam M. Matos, Anthony Mazzariello, Dante R. Mazzetti, Peter J. Mazzucco, Brian P. McCormack, Dennis J. McCutchen, James E. McDermott, Garrett D. McDevitt, Bryan P. McEvoy, William M. McEvoy, Justin N. McGhie, Sean M. McGoldrick, Robert McGuire, Robert H. McKee, Kenneth W. McKeon, Charles F. McLean III;

Kevin R. McMahan, Ivan Medina, William A. Meeks Jr., Stephen E. Messina, John A. Mezzano, Christopher J. Minichiello, Keith J. Mitchell, Charles A. Mollica, John J. Monaghan, Christopher D. Moore, John P. Morgan, Ryan M. Morgan, Dennis E. Moriarty, John A. Morris, Joseph T. Morstatt, Christopher C. Muccini, William G. Mueller, Michael R. Mulhall, Michael J. Mullins, John A. Munoz, Bryan V. Murphy, Thomas R. Murphy, John Nigro, Christine M. O'Connor, Michael B. O'Connor, Ryan C. O'Neil, Salomon M. Ortega, Kevin P. O'Shaughnessy, Thomas J. O'Sullivan, Mark R. Phillips, Brendan T. Piatt, Michael A. Pickford, Raymond G. Pollard, Brian C. Price, Andrew J. Provost, Luis F. Ramones, Joseph A. Recco, Greg D. Richards, Anthony T. Riley, Anthony Rivas, Jason G. Roach;

Oscar J. Robles, Christopher M. Rogers, Christopher M. Rooney, Erick T. Roslund, John W. Runyon III, Jason Rybak, Mark A. Salamone, John H. Sampson, Franklin A. Santillan, Christopher T. Schickler, Gary P. Schiffmacher, Michael J. Schmidt, John W. Schmitt, Michael T. Seluzitsky, Stephen W. Semonick, Michael C. Senise, Derek F. Silver, Justin Spencer, Aleksander Swieszek, Desmond L. Szabo, Timothy J. Tamburello, Peter D. Tesoriero, Theodore J. Thoms III, Ryan G. Timmerman, Edgar Tineo, John P. Toomey, Ryan C. Tortoso, Kevin J. Travis, Warren M. Trayvilla, Louis R. Tricarick, Christian T. Tronconi, Zeyar Tun, Stephen D. Urso, Travis P. Uvena;

William T. Van Leer, Joel R. Van Wieren, Richard C. Varela, Matthew J. Veitch, Bradley T. Voll, David M. Wagner, Roy R. Wagner, Brian T. Walling, Daniel J. Walsh, Gregory P. Walston, Timothy F. Walton, Daniel Washington, Michael K. Waterman, Brady S. Wehrum, Craig E. Weintraub, James R. Weissman, Stephen J. Werner, Brian A. White, Eric E. Wilcken, John R. Wildrick, Jonathan M. Williams, Christopher G. Young, Joshua J. Young, John M. Young and Brian M. Younghans.