Pueblo Fire Department hoping for first black firefighter
The Pueblo Fire Department was founded in 1889, but it has always lacked an African-American firefighter.
Due to this longstanding problem, Chief Shawn Shelton is calling for changes in their recruitment strategy.
“It amazes me that we haven’t been able to recruit and retain a black firefighter,” said Chief Shelton. “It has been on our radar for a long time, and previous chiefs have talked about it. They struggled to find ways to achieve that diversity.”
Only two black men have served as firefighters in Pueblo, but they did not work for the city’s department. The first served as a fireman for a volunteer department in the 1800s. The second is Eugene Polk, who worked as a firefighter at the Transportation Technology Center Inc. in 1974. Five years later, Polk would serve as a firefighter in Colorado Springs.
Polk says he first alerted the Pueblo Fire Department of this problem eight years ago. However, nothing came out of it. Today, he is more optimistic.
“The first time they hire one, and they graduate, I am going to be at that graduation,” says Polk.
Polk is helping the department with recruitment efforts, but he says he is already encouraged by their actions thus far.
The former firefighter applauds the new chief for reaching out to local black leaders as well as young students.
The black community here is only three percent [of Pueblo’s population], so there isn’t a whole lot here,” says Polk. “But there are some young people here that I know are qualified. If they could just get their foot in the door.”
Shelton means for them to do just that by dropping the EMT test as a requirement to the academy, which would help with bringing more people into the building. He says that wouldn’t mean sacrificing quality either.
“We are not lowering standards,” says Shelton. “We will make sure they get the training they need to be fully functional after their first year.”
However, this may not be a local issue. The fire chief notes that African American involvement in fire departments are low across the county.
