Pittsburgh fire chief discusses the importance of recruiting women, minorities in the fire bureau
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Chief Darryl Jones is sounding the alarm to remind residents to make sure they have smoke detectors in their homes that work.
In the city of Pittsburgh this winter, fires have destroyed numerous homes and taken several lives.
In December, a woman died in the Roosevelt Building fire downtown. In a separate incident, two children and an adult lost their lives in a house fire in Brighton Heights.
Chief Jones said that is what's most concerning about recent fires - the lack of working smoke detectors. He says receiving an early warning during a fire will give you some time to escape and it could save your life.
"Of the fatal fires we've had, none but one had working smoke detectors and that was in the Roosevelt building; they had an alarm system and a sprinkler system, but the other two, no working smoke detectors," Chief Jones said. "I find that to be so tragic because we're giving smoke detectors away and we are also installing them for you."
City residents who need a smoke detector can call the 311 hotline to schedule an appointment and Pittsburgh fire crews will come out and install the smoke detectors.
They also offer smoke detectors for the hearing impaired.
For more information on the Pittsburgh 311 Response Center and hotline, visit this link.
The City of Pittsburgh Fire Bureau also is taking steps to bring more diversity to its ranks.
Chief Jones also talked about moving his department into the future, especially by getting more women into the ranks. Chief Jones said he still doesn't have enough women and minorities within the bureau.
In the last year, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire graduated one woman, bringing the number of women to five.
Out of about 700 firefighters, that's less than 1%.
Chief Jones hopes that will change soon.
The city has removed some barriers to help with recruitment. They started a firefighter camp to educate young girls about what the job actually entails, changed the physical test to the national standard test, and removed the residency requirement.
Chief Jones said there's a culture of pride and service when you're part of the fire bureau and they want to extend that opportunity to everyone.
"I have previously stated, in my opinion, it is an embarrassment. However, we have made some great efforts, we reached out to see what the barriers were, we addressed those barriers, and now we have to see in the next application period if we are making in any improvements, [and] evaluate our changes," Chief Jones said.
Jones said not only is it rewarding to serve the community but there's also an economic benefit to becoming a city firefighter. The job pays well, the schedule is 24 hours on duty, and 72 hours off duty, so, you work at least eight days a month.
The fire bureau will be putting on a new recruit class in the spring.
The application period is not open yet.