Fire Authority Weighs Changes in Recruitment : Personnel: Possible modification of process to boost the number of female new hires rankles some current firefighters.

The Orange County Fire Authority is considering scrapping or modifying results of a yearlong recruitment process in order to attract more women, a move that has angered some rank-and-file firefighters.

Top fire officials will meet today to discuss where the recruitment process faltered and whether the department can schedule another physical exam for women and minorities who never showed up for one last summer, said Assistant Chief Chip Prather, who manages all the county fire stations.

Department officials, who are hoping to fill about 30 firefighter positions, also will consider giving tips to some women who failed to finish the state-certified agility test and allowing them to retest several months later, Prather said. Last summer, 915 people passed the test--only two of them women.

The controversy comes at a time when affirmative action is sparking emotional debate nationwide. Some county firefighters fear that safety standards will be compromised and resent that the recruitment process they helped develop might be altered. Some also complain that any changes will prove unfair to white males who passed the test.

“In the field, we don’t want to work with these people if they retest,” said one firefighter who declined to give his name. “I hope it doesn’t happen. I’ve been with the department for over eight years. There’s never been anything like this, when they talk about canceling the test because not enough women passed.”

Prather said management wants to assure firefighters that the department has no intention of lowering standards for employment but that it may spend extra time and money to make sure a higher number of women are among the new hires.

“There will be a perception that if you tweak this exam, you will be making allowances for people, and we have to address that,” Prather said.

“We involved employees in the design of all aspects of the test so there was a comfort with the standards. They felt that if somebody passes this exam, then I can have confidence that they’ll drag me out of a burning building. And no matter what we do, we’re not going to change that.”

Women make up 3.2% of the department’s firefighters and management. While that is above the national average of 2%, officials said, the department is eager to boost the number of female firefighters. The numbers of male minorities in the department come close to representing the community, Prather said.

Officials tried to cast a wide net when the recruitment process began last year: Initial efforts attracted 8,000 applicants, and the top 1,778 scorers on a written test administered in December--including 86 women--were invited to take the physical exam.

But, fire officials said, a six-month delay caused by the county’s bankruptcy, and the negative connotations of working for a bankrupt boss, probably scared away some applicants. Only 1,260 of the top scorers--46 of them women--showed up for the grueling physical endurance test. Just two women passed. Of the 913 men who passed, 19% are minorities.

Prather said the department may “toss the test out and begin over,” recruiting again among women and minorities who are more likely to be physically capable of passing the endurance test, such as police officers, physical education students and military personnel, Prather said.

Recruiters also might contact women and minorities who never showed up for last summer’s physical test and invite them to take it, along with others who scored below the initial cutoff on the written test.

“Regardless of what the political environment may be, it’s the morally right thing to do,” said Division Chief Richard Witesman, who has heard some firefighters’ concerns. “I’m convinced there are many, many more people out there in the community that are also representative of the community that are well qualified to do this job on a day-to-day basis.”

Capt. Dan Young, who is vice president of the Orange County Professional Firefighters Assn., said that he and the association president discussed the issue with Fire Authority management last week and support redoubling the recruitment effort.

“The reality is that if our numbers [of women and minorities] go down, that’s a real issue. That’s not something where we say, ‘Oh, gee, that’s too bad,’ ” Young said. “I think we’re all smarter than waiting until we’re hit with a federal mandate.”

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Fire Figures

The Orange County Fire Authority, which has more than 700 firefighters and officials, may change its recruitment process in order to attract more qualified women. Here’s how the department breaks down in the three major fire personnel categories:

*--*

Total number Male Female White Latino Asian Black Firefighters 284 93% 7% 80% 14% 4% 1% Engineers* 194 100 0 86 11 1 1 Captains 184 99 1 92 5 2 0 Battalion chiefs 40 100 0 98 0 2 0

Native American Other Firefighters 1% 0% Engineers* 0 1 Captains 0 1 Battalion chiefs 0 0

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* Who drive equipment

Source: Orange County Fire Authority

Researched by LEE ROMNEY / Los Angeles Times