Black Firefighters Do Battle Off Duty : Affirmative action: In an effort to ‘tear down past injustices’ and counter job bias, they run a training center in South Los Angeles to prepare African Americans for the fire service.

While on the job, members of an organization of black firefighters dubbed the Stentorians spend their time battling oppressive heat and flames. But on their own time these firefighters wage battles of a different sort.

Since 1980 the group has operated a training and recruitment center in South Los Angeles for African Americans interested in fire service. Their goal is to increase the hiring and promotion of blacks, which group members say has been thwarted in large part by a history of racism--a smoldering fire whose effects can still be felt today.

“What we’re trying to do is tear down past injustices,” said Capt. Ollie Linson, president of the Stentorians.

But recently the organization found itself accused of injustice. In March, members of County Firefighters Union Local 1014 said the group handed out questions and answers to an upcoming firefighters’ exam during one of its tutorial sessions.

Dallas Jones, president of the union, said a candidate obtained the document at a Stentorian tutorial session and gave it to union officials, who later turned the paper over to the chief.

As a result of the accusations and a subsequent preliminary investigation, County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman threw out the test results of the 5,000 job applicants who took the exam in March. He ordered an investigation and a new test was given June 28. The investigation is continuing.

Officials with the Stentorians deny any wrongdoing and denounce the allegations as an absurd and racially motivated attack on the organization.

Linson said the only document given out by the Stentorians was a practice exam that had been distributed by the county’s own personnel office years ago to aid individuals who were preparing to take the county exam.

Union officials deny the racism charge.

“What we have here is a clear case of exam cheating and that’s all,” Jones said.

But County Battalion Chief Hershel Clady, regional director of an international association of black firefighters and a member of the Stentorians, said the accusations are indicative of a tone throughout the United States.

“Memphis, Alabama, San Francisco, Oakland--you name the city and in every case that (firefighters’) local union is attacking the affirmative-action program,” he said. “So what’s happening here in Los Angeles relates to the overall national campaign to discredit affirmative-action programs and those minorities who benefit from those programs.”

Chief Freeman declined to comment on the case until the results of the investigation are released. Freeman, who has been with the department for less than two years, said he is unfamiliar with the specific activities of the Stentorians and the group’s impact on the department.

But city Fire Chief Donald O. Manning said his department has a “good line of communication” with the Stentorians and praised the group for its efforts.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth in the people that we’ve seen,” Manning said, referring to the caliber of the candidates. “And in part I am certain that the Stentorians are responsible for that.”

The department does not keep records on the success rate of the applicants assisted by the Stentorians, but Manning said the group’s efforts were “paying off.” The group has been particularly helpful in assisting individuals seeking promotions, he said.

Supporters of the organization--whose members come from both the city and county fire departments--believe the group has played a major role in increasing the number of blacks in local fire service and those being promoted.

On the city department, there are 299 black firefighters--or 10.6% of the total firefighting force, compared to 4.6% in 1980. As of April 30 of this year, there were 178 black firefighters on the county department, or 8.1%, compared to 6.3% in 1985.

A goal of the city department is for the percentage of blacks in fire service to mirror the percentage of blacks in the city’s work force, 14% according to the 1980 census.

For the county department, the goal is to achieve parity with the total population of blacks in the county, which was 12.6% in 1980.

From the beginning, a goal of the local organization has been to open the doors of the fire departments to all ethnic groups.

“Fire service was historically a white organization,” Linson said. “Nepotism and cronyism played a big part in who became a firefighter and who didn’t.”

Before 1955 there were no African Americans on the county department and the few on the city department were at only two stations. Promotions were virtually non-existent.

Former firefighters like Arnett Hartsfield remember those days well.

In 1955, Hartsfield already had put in 15 years with the city Fire Department when he was assigned to Engine Co. 45.

“The captain met me at the door and gave me a direct order never to enter into the kitchen when the white firemen were eating,” recalled Hartsfield, who led the fight to integrate the city’s stations. “I was already an attorney and every day I came to work I scrubbed the toilet.”

Such was the life of African American firefighters on the city department in 1955--during the height of the long and often vicious battle over integration.

And it was against that backdrop that the Stentorians organization was formed. The word Stentorian--which means very loud and powerful--symbolized the extra effort African American firefighters had to make to be thought half as good as their white counterparts, members said.

That history has not been forgotten by this generation of firefighters.

“I’m very grateful to those guys for what they went through,” said Brent Burton, 24, a county firefighter who works on the organization’s training committee. “If it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t be as easy as it is for me today.”

Much like college recruiters, Stentorians seek out potential candidates for fire service at job fairs, expos and churches.

Most young blacks they meet “don’t know anything about the benefits of fire service,” said Kwame Cooper, a county fire inspector and the group’s vice president.

The thought of making an entry level salary of nearly $29,000 a year with no college degree “just turns a light on and gets them fired up,” Cooper said. Once candidates are found, current firefighters help them throughout the examination process with tutorial sessions, physical agility tests and mock oral exams as intense as those administered by the departments. The center at 1409 W. Vernon Ave. is equipped with an old firetruck, hoses, ladders and ropes loaned by the city.

For the recruits, the added practice and camaraderie make a difference during the examination process and while in the training academy.

“I know that if I hadn’t gone to practice with the guys at the center, I wouldn’t have made it through. It’s not something you can do by yourself,” said city firefighter Sandra Smith, recalling her days in the academy.

Recruits like Latania Smith, now in the academy, say they especially appreciate the support.

“Sometimes things happen and you need someone to talk to,” Smith said. “These guys are always there for us.”

Over the years, the growth in the number of African Americans in the local fire departments has been closely watched--with awe and pride--by Hartsfield.

“If I could have looked forward to today and all the advances (that have been made), it would have been (easier) to take,” he said. “But at the time you couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t dare to hope that it would (change) during my lifetime.”