The Fayetteville Fire Department is ramping up efforts to recruit minorities as it struggles, like many other fire agencies, to diversify its workforce.
Only 3.2 percent of Fayetteville firefighters are black - a figure that trails state and national averages.
Put another way, nine in every 10 Fayetteville firefighters is white in a city where about 42 percent of the residents are black.
Fire Chief Ben Major acknowledged his department needs to do a better job of recruiting minorities. A diverse workforce, he said, can lead to more innovation.
"And aside from that, we owe it to the community to show that we are an inclusive organization," said Major, who became the city's first black fire chief in 2011. "That builds trust and respect."
At a budget meeting in May, one black city councilman called the racial disparity "embarrassing." But the department has made several changes aimed at boosting its minority participation, including:
Lowering three years ago the minimum age to 18 from 19 to attract more applicants graduating from high school and a fire academy run at E.E. Smith High School;