Firefighter who flunked physical injured 10 days into job

Firefighter who flunked physical injured 10 days into job

By Susan Edelman

November 22, 2015 | 4:12am
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Choeurlyne Doirin-Holder pictured during her FDNY training (left) and when she graduated the academy.Photo: Left: AP; Right: Dennis A. Clark

A firefighter who was allowed to graduate the Fire Academy despite failing physical tests has already gone out on medical leave — just 10 days into the job, The Post has learned.

Probationary firefighter Choeurlyne Doirin-Holder injured herself Monday while conducting a routine check of equipment at Queens’ Engine 308 in South Richmond Hill. Getting off the truck, Doirin-Holder missed a step and landed on her left foot, suffering a fracture, sources said.

It was her second shift after a transfer from Engine 301. In training for a hazmat assignment, officers found her struggling to perform the required tasks.
Firefighters called the tripping incident embarrassing — and alarming.

“If you’re going to get hurt in the firehouse checking a rig, what would happen at a fire?” an insider asked.

On Nov. 6, Doirin-Holder celebrated her FDNY graduation as one of four new female Bravest, bringing the number of women to 49 — an all-time high in the FDNY’s 150-year history.

But Doirin-Holder’s competence was questioned by sources familiar with her training. They said academy instructors let her pass the Functional Skills Test, a rigorous obstacle course of job-related tasks, even though she had failed to complete it in the required 17 minutes and 50 seconds or under.
In addition, when she failed to finish a 1.5-mile run in 12 minutes or less — even after the course was shortened — she was allowed to demonstrate aerobic capacity on a StairMaster machine under watered-down requirements enacted by FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro.

Doirin-Holder, who turns 40 this month, is one of 282 “priority hires” passed over in 1999 and 2000. Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis ordered they must get preference as victims of past discrimination against minorities.

It was Doirin-Holder’s third attempt to pass the academy. She failed midway through an academy class in 2013 and returned to her former job as an EMT. Two other female priority hires in that class did well.

Doirin-Holder started another class in early 2014 but dropped out because of an injury. The FDNY then gave her a desk job and kept her on the payroll at top firefighter salary, $76,488. She made $81,376 with overtime in 2014 and entered her third class this summer.

Since she was injured on duty, she is eligible for a disability pension that would pay three-quarters of her annual salary, tax-free, if deemed unfit to return.

In an online FDNY forum, firefighters fumed at the preferential treatment.

“If you can’t meet the standards, you are a danger to yourself, the public and most importantly everyone operating on the fire ground who is doing their job,” one wrote.

The FDNY said it won’t discuss personnel or medical matters.
http://nypost.com/2015/11/22/struggl...-into-new-job/

FDNY recruit failed her way into $81,000 desk job

By Susan Edelman

July 26, 2015 | 8:23am

An FDNY recruit is getting a third chance to pass the training academy after collecting top firefighter pay for a year in desk jobs, sources told The Post.
Choeurlyne Doirin-Holder, 39 — one of four women among 320 current probies in training — failed midway through a Fire Academy class in 2013, and returned to her former job as an EMT.

After entering another class in early 2014, she dropped out because of an injury. But the FDNY kept Doirin-Holder on payroll.

She made $81,376, including overtime, last year — about $26,000 more than the $55,144 she made as an EMT in 2013, records show. Most probies get starting firefighter pay of $39,370.

The FDNY did not assign Doirin-Holder to two subsequent academy classes. She worked desk jobs first at headquarters, then on Randalls Island.
“She was qualified as an EMT. She should have been serving the public while waiting for the next probie class, but was paid as a full-time firefighter to do office work and train on the payroll,” a high-ranking source said.

A year ago, a classmate called Doirin-Holder “the most pathetic specimen of physical fitness I’ve ever seen,” saying she failed to run a required 1.5 miles in 12 minutes, stopping to walk, and got winded walking up stairs.

Doirin-Holder gets top firefighter pay, a base $76,488 after five years, because she is one of 282 “priority hires” who Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis ordered must get preference.

Two other female priority hires in Doirin-Holder’s first academy class, now ages 41 and 44, did well, sources said. They passed the Functional Skills Test, or FST, a tough obstacle course of tasks such as climbing six flights of stairs in full gear and dragging dummies.

Doirin-Holder declined to comment, referring questions to the FDNY.

“We don’t discuss individuals or individual cases while in the academy,” said spokesman Jim Long.

​Doirin-Holder now stands to benefit from the FDNY’s newly watered-down standards, critics said.

In a July 7 letter to firefighter union president Steve Cassidy, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro denied that standards have been lowered. But he confirmed that probies no longer have to pass the grueling FST if they do well on academics and practical skills, or individual tasks.
Last May, the FDNY graduated probie Rebecca Wax, 33, the first to fail the FST.

In another change, probies who fail the 1.5 mile run can demonstrate adequate aerobic capacity on a Stairmaster machine, Nigro said.
http://nypost.com/2015/07/26/fdny-re...1000-desk-job/