Black Firefighters Call for Reforms : Labor: Group says department is plagued by racism, urges mayor to appoint a black commissioner.

Charging that the Los Angeles City Fire Department is plagued by racism and discrimination, the organization representing African American firefighters called Friday for the mayor to appoint a black fire commissioner and for department officials to implement reforms in the 3,100-member force.

“(The Fire Department) remains for a vast majority of our members a very hostile, closed organization where systems, safeguards and procedures have been put in place and which serve to perpetuate a sexist and racist environment,” said Capt. Kwame Cooper, director of the 225-member Los Angeles Stentorians.

Flanked by more than 50 firefighters and supporters, Cooper spoke at a news conference called to voice support for the findings in a controversial city audit released last month. The scathing study concluded that white males dominate top posts and that women and minorities have been harassed and given unfair evaluations by supervisors, all in an effort to run them off the force.

“Finally, the daily reality and struggle and discrimination which exists in this department has been documented as a widespread problem,” Cooper said, standing in front of an old stucco building south of Downtown that once was one of two all-black firehouses before the department was integrated in 1955.

The group pledged to work with the Fire Department but threatened legal action if progress is not made.

The harsh criticism by the Stentorians adds to the growing controversy engulfing the department. The City Council’s Personnel Committee plans to investigate the force and has scheduled two hearings this month, which are certain to generate more heat on the department and its chief, Donald O. Manning.

Manning has dismissed the Personnel Department’s audit as a “hatchet job” based on unscientific methodology and the grumblings of a few anonymous firefighters and embittered former employees.

Assistant Chief Dean E. Cathey, a department spokesman, denied Friday that racism and discrimination are a widespread problem.

“With 3,100 firefighters, it would be unrealistic to assume that everyone is going to get along,” Cathey said. “But (it) is a far stretch to say that this department is plagued by racism and sexism.”

He said the department has done more to ensure a harassment-free workplace than any other agency in the city. Cathey added that the department is well on its way toward implementing reforms.

The centerpiece of that effort is a $2-million proposal by Manning to create a 17-person human resources bureau that would have recruiting teams, affirmative action officers and officials who would mentor women and minorities to help improve their promotion rates.

A department task force working to develop that proposal includes members of the Stentorians, Cathey noted, as well as women, Latinos and representatives of the 3,000-member firefighters union.

The task force was lauded Friday by Fire Commission President Elizabeth Lowe as a big step in the right direction. “I feel confident that this team will produce a plan to satisfy all the issues that have been raised,” Lowe said.

At the news conference, civil rights attorney Melanie E. Lomax, the Stentorian’s legal adviser, called on Mayor Richard Riordan to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Fire Commission with an African American. When Riordan took office last year, Lomax said, he replaced the five-member board, leaving it without a black representative for the first time in 20 years.

A Riordan spokeswoman said Friday that the mayor would select a new commissioner based on qualifications, not race or ethnicity.

Lomax, pointing to the audit’s findings, said there was a clear pattern of harassment and discrimination in the Fire Department’s promotions process.

The audit said the department has made significant gains in its entry-level hiring, but it found that white males make up 95% of the top 20 officials. “Ninety-five percent white male speaks for itself,” Lomax said.