Chief (and later Fire Commissioner) Augustus Beekman
The
men who enter the New York City Fire Department are recruited from a base
population of ten million people to a protective service that has been
identified as the most sought after job title in the civil service, one that
attracts men from other municipal agencies, as well as from private
industry. The department justifiably assumes that the capability potential of
firefighters is well above average.
Similarly,
the men who are promoted to the officer ranks are distilled from the base
roster of eleven thousand firemen. The department credits them with being
capable of accepting any challenge which these ranks present.
However, society has learned
through the experience of centuries that human nature resists performing up to
maximum potential without the influence of motivating or compelling forces. In
the Fire Department such forces are expressed in the form of recruitment and
promotion standards, the administration of competitive examinations, and the
recording of comparative performance ratings.
Utilization
of these procedures has enabled the City of New York to develop and maintain a
professional fire protection force o9f outstanding quality, one that services a
metropolitan area whose population, as well as construction and occupancy
complexities, are more than double those of any other city in the United
States.
As
an additional by-product, the dedication and search for excellence necessary
for entrance into, and advancement within the department has motivated men to
broader self-development in a wide range of academic and professional fields.
The conclusion can therefore
be drawn that any pressures applied by the Fire Department are designed to
propel men forward rather than to hold them back.
Augustus
Beekman
Chief-in-Charge
Division
of Fire Control
WNYF,
Vol 1, 1974
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