The death of a merit based system: Will the FDNY bypass the best firefighters to meet its diversity goals?

Will the FDNY bypass the best firefighters to meet its diversity goals?

By Post Editorial Board

February 11, 2018 | 7:31pm

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Robert Miller

If Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro meets goals he announced at a City Council hearing last week, more than half the city’s firefighters will be minority members, and 15 percent female, by 2029. That’s fine — but will they be able to put out fires?

It’s a fair question, because to meet his goals, the FDNY might have to bypass better potential candidates who happen to be white or male. Or perhaps lower its standards.

Nigro laid out his racial and gender targets after Speaker Corey Johnson blasted the FDNY as “out of step with other city agencies . . . when it comes to diversity.”

But Johnson’s charge was both offensive and wrongheaded. For one thing, the FDNY, which requires special skills of firefighters, can’t be compared to other agencies.

For another, if anyone truly thinks the FDNY intentionally discriminates against minorities and women, after all it has been through, they must have a screw loose. Besides, what Nigro should be most focused on is hiring the best people for the job.

As it turns out, the department has been actively encouraging minority members to apply since even before a left-wing judge accused it of bias (on dubious grounds) back in 2010. Since then, it has redoubled its efforts to diversify. And its hiring and recruitment still must pass muster with a federal monitor.

Last year, the FDNY reported that 63 percent of its exam applicants were minority members (black, Hispanic or Asian); just four years earlier, it was 48 percent. And females last year made up 13 percent of applicants, up from 6 percent.

At the same time, the department has eased some physical standards. For instance, probies who fail to run 1.5 miles in 12 minutes can prove their aerobic fitness on a Stairmaster machine instead.

Nigro, of course, wouldn’t call his diversity goals “quotas.” But if he makes them a high enough priority, as race and gender bean-counters like Johnson would like, that’s exactly what they’ll be.

Fire victims will have to pray that the team sent to save their loved ones and property are the best available — and not just people of the right race and gender.