The Pittsburgh Fire Bureau is working to boost recruitment efforts, particularly for women, according to Chief Darryl Jones.

A performance audit released this week by City Controller Michael Lamb found that last year fewer than 1% of the bureau’s roughly 700 firefighters were women. The national average was around 5%, according to the 2020 National Fire Protection Association.

Lamb said firefighters are the only full-time city employees without paid parental leave, which the controller said could hinder efforts to hire and retain firefighters.

“Firefighters, like all full-time city employees, absolutely must be given access to paid family leave,” Lamb said. “The city of Pittsburgh must be a fair and equitable employer, and by denying firefighters a family leave benefit, we are acting neither fairly nor equitably.”

Lamb said he hoped contract negotiations underway with the firefighters’ union will extend that benefit to the bureau.

“We’ve been actively trying to recruit ladies to the fire service,” Jones said, highlighting efforts to draw in young women through the Girls Fire Camp that launched in 2022.

Jones said the bureau identified several factors hindering recruitment and is working to address those obstacles. The city nixed a residency requirement for firefighters and is looking to alter the physical agility test to match national standards.

Jones said he also felt there is a “lack of awareness of what it is to be a firefighter and what the job entails” that keeps some people away from the field.

Currently, the fire bureau has 32 recruits going through a 32-week academy, Jones said. None are women.

Lamb’s report also acknowledged budgetary restrictions in past years have created issues with maintaining the bureau’s capital assets. A 2017 report estimated the city needed more than $16.2 million to repair all of the city’s firehouses.

The controller’s office said nearly all of the city’s firehouses were built without consideration for female firefighters, and they don’t have adequate bathroom and bedroom facilities for women. Lamb suggested leveraging federal grants to begin making necessary upgrades.

“Early in the Obama Administration, the city used several million (dollars) of federal stimulus aid to renovate the first floor of the City-County Building,” Lamb said. “There’s no reason we should not be pursuing similar avenues to make our public safety buildings environmentally friendly and gender-equitable.”

Officials also acknowledged the need for newer vehicles and equipment.

The proposed 2024 budget includes money for a new aerial ladder truck, two fire pumpers and leases for four more pumpers and a fire truck.

It also budgets more than $9.5 million for renovations at fire stations on North Euclid Avenue, Orchlee Street, Homestead Street and Baldwin Road.

The controller’s audit also highlighted an issue surrounding ladder testing. The bureau believed the city’s fleet maintenance contractor, First Vehicle Services, was testing ladders as part of its inspection process, but it was not. Auditors also found that the bureau does not test hose nozzles and appliances, and fire hose testing records weren’t retained as recommended.

The audit urged the bureau to resume testing that equipment and maintain records for firefighters’ safety.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)