AURORA — For the first time in 11 years, the Aurora Fire Department has hired an African-American.
Three African-Americans graduated last month from the Aurora Fire Department Academy and are now on the job. Two were lateral moves — meaning they held similar positions in other fire departments. The third is new to the profession.
Nine people graduated from the academy last month, including one Latino.
Thirteen of the 307 sworn firefighters in Aurora, or about 4 percent, are black, including several in supervisory positions.
Last April, Chris Henderson became the first black deputy fire chief in Aurora and the highest- ranking African-American in fire service in Colorado.
Although the department’s demographics still don’t match the city’s — Aurora is about 14 percent African-American — the increase is a big improvement for a department that has prioritized diversity for several years.
“We’re making progress in the right direction,” said Capt. Allen Robnett, department spokesman.
Fire Chief Mike Garcia started a recruitment team in 2008, and it used the Internet and the department’s website to attract new candidates, he said. The team recruited at military bases, held job fairs and bought ads that ran in movie theaters.
Garcia said the department needs to continue that work.
“It will always be a goal to diversify our department to reflect the city,” he said.
The department also has modernized testing procedures, replacing a traditional system that presented written scenarios to recruits and asked for written responses with a video-based system.
Civil Service Commission chairman Dave Williams said about 1,700 people applied to become firefighters in this latest round.
The new hires still must make it through their probation period that ends in September. Still, officials are encouraged that they were able to add more diversity to the Fire Department.
“We’re tickled with the results of this class,” Williams said. “It shows there are some things positive that are happening.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
