Los Angeles fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said Wednesday he wants to more than double the number of female firefighters in the department over the next five years.
The current number of 83 women out of a total of more than 3,200 firefighters — less than 3 percent — is a “a very low number” and “we can do better,” Terrazas told the Los Angeles City Council during presentation on the department’s budget.
Terrazas said he believes raising the number of women to the 6 percent level is an “achievable” goal.
He added the department has more recruiters this year who will be able to focus on reaching out to college female athletes — such as rowers, softball players and basketball players — who tend to make up the “greatest pool of successful candidates.”
The long-term plan for recruiting more women is to re-establish a tutorial program that had been available to women interested in a firefighting career, Terrazas said. That option requires finding a vacant fire station where the program could be housed.
Women have not fared well in recent recruitment efforts by the Los Angeles Fire Department, with fire officials saying today that the four female recruits who began the latest training class have all dropped out.
Two of the trainees stopped training due to injury, while a third failed required tests, LAFD spokesman Peter Sanders said.
One of the injured female recruits has already been accepted into an upcoming next class, he added.
Sanders said he does not know the reason the fourth woman dropped out of the recruit class.
— City News Service