Feb. 07--The Chicago Fire Department has tapped a veteran firefighter to fill the agency's No. 2 job.
Richard Ford II, a Chatham native who lives on the city's Far South Side, takes over as the first deputy commissioner. Ford will handle "day-to-day operations" of the department, according to a department news release. He will also assist with recruitment issues amid the anticipated hiring of hundreds of new recruits who recently passed the department's exam.
Ford takes the job amid ongoing criticism over the department's lack of diversity within its ranks. As of last month, one African American and one Hispanic firefighter were employed by the department for every four white firefighters, according to staffing figures provided last month by agency spokesman Larry Langford. Langford said the department employs nearly 4,800 firefighters.
Those numbers have drawn criticism from some current firefighters and high-ranking retirees from the department. Last month, they joined members of the African-American Firefighters Paramedics League of Chicago in calling on the U.S. Justice Department to step in and probe the department's hiring practices along with disciplinary decisions that they allege demonstrate a pattern of discrimination.
Ford, a 30 year veteran who rose through the ranks from firefighter to training director and then head of the Fire Prevention Bureau, could not be immediately reached for comment.
