L.A. County fire chief vows to overhaul hiring procedures

The Los Angeles County fire chief Wednesday said he will overhaul the agency’s hiring procedures in response to a Times investigation that found that a large percentage of firefighters given jobs have family ties to the department.

Chief Daryl Osby said the reforms were needed to protect the agency’s “core values” and guard against nepotism and cheating in hiring. The changes will include a new written test for firefighter applicants and a bigger role for outsiders in the evaluation of candidates.

“Everybody who applies to become a county firefighter will get an equal and fair shake,” he said. “We’re going to revamp our process.”

The Times reported Sunday that the department’s hiring, which is supposed to be based on merit, favored sons of firefighters. At least 183 sons of current or former firefighters have served on the force since the start of 2012, according to an analysis of payroll, pension, birth, marriage and other records.

All told, sons represent nearly 7% of the county’s 2,750 firefighters. When brothers, nephews and other relatives are included, at least 370 firefighters — 13% of the department ranks — are related to someone now or previously on the force.

The Times also found evidence that insiders have tried to manipulate hiring. Lists of questions and suggested answers for the formal interviews of applicants have circulated freely through the department’s station houses, even though they are supposed to be kept under lock and key. The interviews determine whether and when applicants win a spot in the fire academy.

“It’s very disheartening and disappointing,” Osby said about the interview security breach. “It’s intolerable too.”

At Osby’s request, county investigators are reviewing five years of department emails to identify any employees who passed interview questions or answers on to relatives or other people applying for firefighter positions, which are highly prized for their six-figure salaries and generous benefits.

The probe by the Office of County Investigations, which is part of the auditor-controller department, will take about 90 days to complete, in part because it is examining “several terabytes” of emails, Osby said.

“We’re looking at all of them,” he said.

The office conducts criminal and administrative inquiries into alleged fraud and other misconduct by county employees, contractors and vendors. County investigators did not respond to an interview request.

Osby said anyone found to have been cheating will be “dealt with appropriately,” no matter how high the person ranks. He declined to specify punishments that could be imposed.

In an interview at the department’s East Los Angeles headquarters, Osby said he believed that many relatives might have made stronger job applicants because their fathers instilled in them a special motivation to become firefighters. He said the relatives he knew in the department were performing well.

But Osby said that, as part of an anti-nepotism policy his staff is drafting, new testing and interviewing protocols would ensure that fathers and other relatives of applicants “are not influencing the outcome.”

He said he would “diversify” the panels of officials who interview applicants to include more people who are not on the department payroll. In the current system, officials doing the interviews could be the subordinates of the fathers of applicants.

“We’ve going to address that,” Osby said, adding that some of the changes had been in the works as part of his longer-term strategic plan for the department.

In addition, Osby said, the written test would no longer be a pass-fail exam; at least a portion of it will be competitively scored and the grading will be done outside the department. He said that would help the agency identify the best candidates. He said he would also scrap a lottery that might have kept some of the most qualified candidates from being selected to take the written test.

Osby said the details on how the security of the interview material will be strengthened are still being worked out.

The questions and answers used for previous interviews were locked inside a cabinet and inside a cage, measures that did not prevent employees from getting their hands on at least some of the material, firefighters told The Times.

Since 2007, more than 12,600 people have applied to become county firefighters. About 740 were hired. That’s 1 in 17 — a rejection rate of nearly 95%.

If firefighters’ sons faced the same slim chances, more than 3,000 of them — an improbably high number — would have had to apply to account for the 183 sons The Times identified.

Officials have said the department does not track the number of relatives who apply.

One of the largest local fire agencies in the country, the department draws applicants from across Southern California and beyond. Recruits can make more than $100,000 annually within a few years. After county firefighters retire, they receive yearly pension and health benefits that are worth more than $130,000.

Osby said he expected the changes to be in place by year’s end or early 2015. No more hiring will occur under the current system.

“We’re going to have a process that is as objective as it possibly could be,” the chief said. “We may not be perfect. But any compromise in the core values of our department will not be tolerated. Especially the integrity of this organization.”

paul.pringle@latimes.com