FDNY Begins Diversity Training
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Diversity training is underway at the FDNY.
Commissioner Daniel Nigro told WCBS 880's Rich Lamb the sessions are meant to make the department more inclusive.
"This training is helping us as we become a more diverse department to be a more inclusive department and to understand what that means," Nigro said.
The department's top brass have already had eight hours of training. Fire chiefs will also receive eight hours of training, and all other officers and firefighters will get four hours.
"These are things we need to know to maintain the great family the Fire Department is," Nigro said.
The latest available numbers show the FDNY is 76 percent white and more than 90 percent male. But Nigro said the department is changing.
In March 2014, the FDNY reached a $98 million settlement with a black firefighters group that alleged discrimination in hiring.
As part of the settlement, the department agreed to create an executive position for diversity.
