After several delays to try and attract more FDNY candidates, the filing for the city’s upcoming firefighter exam has finally closed — with historic gains in the number of African-Americans, Asians, Latinos and women who applied.
The FDNY had planned to close filing on April 25 for the highly competitive firefighter entrance exam that will be given in the fall.
But in an effort to boost the diversity of candidates, it extended the deadline several times, until declaring June 9 the drop-dead cut-off date. By May 8, the FDNY had nearly 52,000 applicants — but decided to delay closing to attract more. A month later, it had collected an additional 20,000 — boosting the finally tally to 72,595 applicants, the FDNY said Thursday.