Vulcan Blazers
The Vulcan Blazers, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is an African-American fraternal organization representing more than 300 full-time professional fire fighters and paramedics.
[4] African-Americans have been a part of the history of the Baltimore City Fire Department dating to Smokestack Hardy and the SHC Auxiliaries agitating the Mayor for them being made permanent and paid firemen in 1949.
In the first class of Auxiliaries to be paid were Lee D. Babb, Cicero Baldwin, Ernest H. Barnes, Louis Harden, Earl C. Jones, Carl E. McDonald, George C.W.
In many cases they were not allowed to use the same kitchen spoons or mugs, drink coffee from the coffeepot or read the newspapers bought by 'community chest' funds.
[15][16] The SAFF, led by Charles R. Thomas visited the Vulcan Society in NYC who counseled legal action; subsequently, with the help of the law firm Brown Allen and Watts, Labor Leader A. Philip Randolph, The NAACP, The Urban League and some white supporters, the AFL-CIO forced the Local 734 Union to bring the "Negro Issue" to the floor of a general membership meeting.
The following year in Hartford, Connecticut at the first IABPFF convention the SAFF leaders were present and were instrumental in forming that organization; when they returned to Baltimore they incorporated as the Vulcan Blazers.
The first order of business was to find a legal team to fight the harassment they experienced in the firehouses along with the discriminatory promotion practices of the BFCD in court.
In 1971 four members of the Vulcan Blazers, supported by the organization, brought a racial discrimination lawsuit in the Baltimore Federal Court against the BCFD.
[27] In 2007, following disagreements over promotions made at the Fire Academy with the Chief of department, the Vulcan Blazers publicly called for his replacement by civil authorities.
[32] The decision included statements made by Henry Burris, Pres of the Vulcan Blazers in the press alleging that the rumors that there had been cheating were racially motivated by white officers, the union and Chief Goodwin.
[34] In December 2011 Lloyd Carter, the former head diversity officer of the BCFD sued the city on grounds of racial discrimination over his reassignment.
It was the largest Title VII settlement by a municipality, highlighting the lack of diversity in the hiring practices of the police and fire depts.
[42][43] As a result of the LODD, department head Niles Ford said the BFCD would consider additional policy changes, including requiring that safety officers work in pairs.
Stokes is the first African American female to attain the rank of Battalion Chief in the 154-year history of the Baltimore City Fire Department.
At the same time, the CPAT seeks to eliminate artificial barriers to a fire department’s broader goal of developing a properly trained and physically capable workforce whose members reflect the diversity of the community.
Diversity is also achieved by actively recruiting qualified men and women candidates from all racial and ethnic backgrounds for careers in the fire service.
