City Councilman Wants To Raise Maximum Age For FDNY To 36

[EMSLt 27]

Quote

Older New Yorkers would get a chance to become FDNY firefighters under a bill set to be introduced to the City Council Tuesday.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/city-councilman-raise-maximum-age-join-fdny-36-article-1.2680995

[kinkchaser 352]

Why don't they just go out with a bag of badges and hand them out and get rid of all these pesky requirements. Love the reasoning behind this

[x635 4,066]

As far as the age itself goes, it shouldn't be an issue. I had guys in my academy class that were in their late 30's and early 40's that were far outpacing us youngins physically and mentally. There is something to be said for life experience and maturity.

 

As far as the reasoning behind this goes, as I read the article, it seems like it is to include more minorities who didn't have a chance to find out about the exam earlier in life.  That, in my opinion, is a department public education problem, not an age related problem. Seems like everyone I know on the job knew they wanted to be a firefighter, and knew someone that knew how to point them in the right direction, or someone to follow.

 

I'm turning 37 in August though, it's sad all my civil service Firefighter and Cop job possibilities are drying up because of my age. I was hoping to make a comeback!

[BBBMF 158]

I don't believe firefighting in NYC can be compared with many other departments around the area.  Companies are doing 15-20+ runs per day and the job is much more physical than a lot of others.  It's not the old days of jeans, a coat and helmet and a saw to the roof.  The weight of turnout gear and your compliment of tools can and will put a beating on the body.  Heart attacks for middle aged firemen seems to be more common as well.  It's becoming more and more of a young mans job and for good reasons.

 

Not to mention the real reason for this bullshit change.  It is not for the bettermeant of the people we serve, period 

 

Edited June 27, 2016 by BBBMF

[FireMedic049 597]

It's hard to argue against the increased age cutoff itself with age related health concerns when you have guys already on the job working who are in those same age ranges and working at what is essentially the same rank and job duties.

 

Now, the reasoning for it may be dubious, but I don't think it'll have the desired effect.  The age increase may attract more minority applicants, but it'll also attract more non-minority applicants too.  So the net effect may be a slightly older class of recruits rather than a more diverse class unless the process is manipulated to achieve the desired diversity.

[nydude2473 79]

If the PD can allow guys to get on by 35 or 37, I don't see why the FD can't be the same way. At the end of the day, the duties can be as strenuous depending on where you are working or what you are assigned to do. But, I think doing this to get a more diverse class wouldn't really result in what they are looking for. I think that really starts with outreach programs or more promoting the exam out there. I always saw posters for the NYPD exam when it was still open to take. With FDNY, I feel like it's more a word of mouth kind of exam. Nothing wrong with that, but that may hurt them with trying to get a more diverse group. But at the same time, you can't force people to take the job if it isn't in them to do it. Firefighting is very much a calling, just like being a cop or a doctor or anything like that. You gotta want to do this job because you love it, for the right reasons.

[antiquefirelt 994]

6 hours ago, FireMedic049 said:

It's hard to argue against the increased age cutoff itself with age related health concerns when you have guys already on the job working who are in those same age ranges and working at what is essentially the same rank and job duties.

I doubt most of us would have a similar take if they wanted to lengthen out the years of service before retirement eligibility? Many had to fight to get 20 or 25 year no age retirement plans to ensure our members could safely do the job up until their last day, how do we make that argument and then fight maximum age limits?

 

This is a younger persons game and we certainly cannot guarantee all personnel will ascend in rank to a safer less physical job. While we lose people of all ages, the stats are fairly clear that firefighters have much higher health risks than most professions and we can be certain that with every passing year those risks multiply. Couple this with the heavy responsibility we have to complete our duties, which in most cases doesn't allow for redundancy, we put ourselves and the public at greater risk when we don't do all we can to strengthen our weakest links. I don't know what FDNY need to get to make full retirement, but I know I need to make my full 25 years and with that 4 1/2 years away I can say for sure that every year that goes by recovering from an injury or even a tough job gets harder and harder. I started at age 26 and now at 46 am thinking that going until age 61 would be pretty near impossible, and I haven't ridden backwards for over a decade. 

 

Of course they want the FD to hire older people, they can make the case they're making about minorities and in the long run retirees will be older, resulting in less money expended between retirement and death, if they actually make it to a full pension. What do you bet that's a huge fiscal impact in NYC?