The Boston Fire Department was established as the first paid fire department in the United States, and is the largest municipal fire department in New England serving approximately 685,000 people living in the 48.4-square-mile (125 km2) area of the city proper. Additionally, it actively participates in MetroFire, the fire services mutual aid system which serves it and 35 other fire departments in the surrounding area.
Recent hiring practices have embroiled the department’s leadership, and the city, in lawsuits, citing biased hiring practices that emphasize politics, DEI, and nepotism over merit, and bypassing veterans who should have preference. It was recently reported that the commissioner was receiving upwards of $30K per class that graduates recruits from the new cadet program. The commissioner is due to retire in April, and has scheduled an early graduation for the upcoming class so that it “ends” prior to his retirement.
Standards at the fire academy have been lowered to push through cadets that cannot pass physical tests. Several recruits were even brought in on a weekend and miraculously passed the physical ability test (with lowered standards) with only a handful of academy staff there as oversight. Regardless of push back from the training staff, these practices are forced to continue, and the result is under-qualified probationary FFs being used to staff fire companies.
This is not a post about what race, religion, gender or whatever someone who claims the world needs to be politically correct wants to cry. This is and always will be a safety issue not only for the fire fighters but more importantly the citizens of Boston and neighboring towns that request help. This Department is on a hiring spree of unqualified candidates. For years now civil service scores have been set aside to ensure certain candidates are giving offers over veterans that are supposed to be given hiring preference under Massachusetts General Laws Part 1, Title IV, Chp 31 Section 26. The city of Boston has not been in favor of hiring veterans for quite some time. They have implemented a cadet program so they can hire who they want to make sure our department fits their ideology. A cadet program in theory sounds great. A two year program to hire and filter good candidates for the job. However, they have hired candidates who fall short on almost all aspects of the job. Once they reach the academy, they are out of shape and can not complete the standard physical testing Boston requires. But the academy staff is told by Top down to allow these recruits to “retake” tests or simply pass no matter what. This could be coming from the Commissioner Paul Burke who has taken a 40k dollar bonus for putting a class a cadets on. And will shortly receive a second 40k bonus for the second class that’s currently being put through. The same class that was delayed during the hiring process so it started weeks late. Which you would think would result in the graduation date being pushed back. Nope, wrong there, the graduation date had to stay the same for him to receive his bonus so the academy is cut short. I’m sure those training hours didn’t matter. I’m not sure of any other departments who are giving their Fire comissioners bonuses for putting unqualified fire fighters into firehouses. The fact the commissioner is involved puts pressure on everyone in the department. To speak out against this would create a serious amount of problems for yourself. Every officer on the job now has it in the back of their head and a lot will not speak up, or give bad remarks on probationary Fire fighters. There is no support from the department. We have probationary fire fighters committing crimes, unable to pull feeder to hydrants, and causing problems in Fire houses. There is a lack of respect for senior Fire Fighters who have ample amount of years of service and knowledge. This should be a huge red flag to all Boston residents. I’m not sure if political figures think that Fire Fighting is some type of game or it’s just a hangout at the fire houses. There is down time when you are not on a run and maybe that’s what these politicians see. They want people they know to get these good benefitted jobs because this is what they see. Fire numbers are down, there is no threat. But what happens when a fire does happen, because it’s only a matter of time for the next fire. What happens when your family member is trapped in a house or stuck under a car or needs CPR and the company arrives and they have someone who can not preform the job. They can’t get water or can’t carry someone out of a building or cracks under the pressure as a family member is screaming at you as to why their kid isn’t breathing. This career isn’t just a job, this choice isnt a game, isn’t there to cash a check. The Boston Fire department is putting their citizens and their Fire Fighters at risk everyday.
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2 Reviews on “Boston Fire Department”
Recent hiring practices have embroiled the department’s leadership, and the city, in lawsuits, citing biased hiring practices that emphasize politics, DEI, and nepotism over merit, and bypassing veterans who should have preference. It was recently reported that the commissioner was receiving upwards of $30K per class that graduates recruits from the new cadet program. The commissioner is due to retire in April, and has scheduled an early graduation for the upcoming class so that it “ends” prior to his retirement.
Standards at the fire academy have been lowered to push through cadets that cannot pass physical tests. Several recruits were even brought in on a weekend and miraculously passed the physical ability test (with lowered standards) with only a handful of academy staff there as oversight. Regardless of push back from the training staff, these practices are forced to continue, and the result is under-qualified probationary FFs being used to staff fire companies.
This is not a post about what race, religion, gender or whatever someone who claims the world needs to be politically correct wants to cry. This is and always will be a safety issue not only for the fire fighters but more importantly the citizens of Boston and neighboring towns that request help. This Department is on a hiring spree of unqualified candidates. For years now civil service scores have been set aside to ensure certain candidates are giving offers over veterans that are supposed to be given hiring preference under Massachusetts General Laws Part 1, Title IV, Chp 31 Section 26. The city of Boston has not been in favor of hiring veterans for quite some time. They have implemented a cadet program so they can hire who they want to make sure our department fits their ideology. A cadet program in theory sounds great. A two year program to hire and filter good candidates for the job. However, they have hired candidates who fall short on almost all aspects of the job. Once they reach the academy, they are out of shape and can not complete the standard physical testing Boston requires. But the academy staff is told by Top down to allow these recruits to “retake” tests or simply pass no matter what. This could be coming from the Commissioner Paul Burke who has taken a 40k dollar bonus for putting a class a cadets on. And will shortly receive a second 40k bonus for the second class that’s currently being put through. The same class that was delayed during the hiring process so it started weeks late. Which you would think would result in the graduation date being pushed back. Nope, wrong there, the graduation date had to stay the same for him to receive his bonus so the academy is cut short. I’m sure those training hours didn’t matter. I’m not sure of any other departments who are giving their Fire comissioners bonuses for putting unqualified fire fighters into firehouses. The fact the commissioner is involved puts pressure on everyone in the department. To speak out against this would create a serious amount of problems for yourself. Every officer on the job now has it in the back of their head and a lot will not speak up, or give bad remarks on probationary Fire fighters. There is no support from the department. We have probationary fire fighters committing crimes, unable to pull feeder to hydrants, and causing problems in Fire houses. There is a lack of respect for senior Fire Fighters who have ample amount of years of service and knowledge. This should be a huge red flag to all Boston residents. I’m not sure if political figures think that Fire Fighting is some type of game or it’s just a hangout at the fire houses. There is down time when you are not on a run and maybe that’s what these politicians see. They want people they know to get these good benefitted jobs because this is what they see. Fire numbers are down, there is no threat. But what happens when a fire does happen, because it’s only a matter of time for the next fire. What happens when your family member is trapped in a house or stuck under a car or needs CPR and the company arrives and they have someone who can not preform the job. They can’t get water or can’t carry someone out of a building or cracks under the pressure as a family member is screaming at you as to why their kid isn’t breathing. This career isn’t just a job, this choice isnt a game, isn’t there to cash a check. The Boston Fire department is putting their citizens and their Fire Fighters at risk everyday.