Sound the Alarm: Why Do So Few African Americans Serve as Firefighters and Paramedics?

Abstract

The demographic makeup of fire departments, including firefighters and paramedics, often does not reflect communities. This thesis poses the following research question: What factors support and inhibit the recruitment and retention of African American firefighters and paramedics in the United States? The research relied on documented open-source information and data from fire and emergency medical service (EMS)departments in the United States. In examining issues affecting the recruitment and retention of African Americans in the profession, this study considers the history of the fire service and EMS, along with other internal and external factors that could support or inhibit the recruitment and retention of African Americans. The research offers several recommendations to remedy this issue, including mandating Courageous Conversations workshops, creating a diverse full-time recruiting team, developing pipeline partnerships, and changing hiring and training processes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2023
Accession Number
AD1212891

Entities

People

  • Colin D Burress

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
  • Demography
  • Emergency Response
  • Employment
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Families (Human)
  • First Responders
  • Geography
  • Health Services
  • Human Population
  • Medical Personnel
  • Minority Groups
  • Personnel Management
  • Prejudice
  • Societies
  • Students
  • United States
  • Urban Areas
  • Warning Systems

Readers

  • Economics
  • Fire Suppression Systems Design.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.