Regina Wilson, who has worked for the New York Fire Department for 25 years, describes joining the country’s largest fire department as a “culture shock.”

At a town hall meeting hosted by the New York City Council last month, she recalled hearing obscene and derogatory comments and being told to do push-ups by an instructor, but most importantly, she spoke about her struggle to be herself in a workplace that is predominantly white and male.

“I’m a black woman. I love it every day,” said Wilson, who is now president of the Vulcan Society, a prestigious association of black firefighters. “So there’s no way they’re going to try to make me a white man or I’m going to conform to a white man.”

Firefighting is a male-dominated profession nationwide, but in New York City the gender gap is particularly glaring. According to personnel data collected by the City Council, less than 2 percent of the New York Fire Department’s roughly 11,000 firefighters are women, compared with 9 percent nationwide and more than 12 percent in cities like Miami and San Francisco. The first woman to lead the fire department, Laura Kavanagh, resigned Wednesday after less than two years on the job.

The FDNY did not make Kavanagh available for an interview with Gothamist. In an essay on Medium last month, she explained her decision by saying she wanted to spend more time with family and friends. But her departure has brought renewed attention to the gender gap in the FDNY and longstanding complaints of sexism and harassment.

The fire service has faced allegations of discriminatory practices, including blatant racism, for decades. But in recent public comments and interviews with Gothamist, female firefighters said the lack of racial and gender diversity affects their interactions on the job — where they help people of different backgrounds in their most vulnerable moments, often in their homes. Within the firehouse, the lack of women leads to a lack of political power, coupled with fear of retaliation for speaking out.

“It has been a blight on this department for so many years,” Wilson said, “that they have failed to make this department a reflection of the citizens it serves.”

“The New York City Fire Department is the nation’s premier fire department and continues to work to ensure it reflects the diversity of this city,” Amanda Farinacci, a spokeswoman for the New York City Fire Department, said in a statement to Gothamist.

Mayor Eric Adams and the FDNY say the department has made great strides in its recruitment efforts.

Kavanagh, who appointed Adams as fire chief in October 2022, has not attributed her decision to leave to the FDNY’s male-dominated culture, but after she demoted a group of male fire chiefs, her tenure has been marked by backlash.. Kavanagh did not give a reason for the demotion, but an employee told the New York Times that she did not want to play “the same old game.”

For Adams, the city’s second Black mayor, allegations of discrimination represent a pressing political issue. The mayor prides himself on appointing women, especially women of color, to high-level positions. In 2021, the Vulcan Society endorsed Adams for mayor. And he was angered by comparisons between Kavanagh’s departure and that of former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who left after a year and a half. Toward the end of her first year in office, Sewell gave a speech about sexism to the Police Women’s Endowment Association.

Adams’ choice to replace Kavanagh is being closely watched by political observers and members of the fire department, but he has given little indication of who he will select. The department on Wednesday named First Assistant Commissioner Joseph W. Pfeifer as acting fire chief.

In an interview with WABC-TV on Wednesday, Adams said he was considering three candidates and would announce his choice “very soon.”

The leadership change also comes at a crucial time for the FDNY, which is at the end of a recruiting cycle that only occurs every four to five years. The application window for new recruits began in June and ends Friday. It will not open again until 2028 at the earliest.

Firefighters say the irregular recruiting cycles are one of several reasons for the slow pace of change in the department. The entire process, which includes a physical and written exam, can take several years. Except for those who have served in the military, applicants must be under 29, a restriction that women say can affect their childbearing years.

Sarinya Srisakul, a 19-year veteran who said she was the first Asian American woman to become a firefighter, told Gothamist that when she was new to the fire department, she was yelled at for forgetting to empty the dishwasher. As a vegan, she found food she brought to work thrown away. Once, she said, someone left a message on a board in the firehouse: “Women don’t belong in this profession.”

Srisakul was hired in 2005, but the alleged problems have persisted for decades. In 2022, Anita Daniel, a black firefighter in Crown Heights, testified before the City Council that she was harassed after a miscarriage and slapped on the butt by an FDNY captain, among other alleged offenses.

“It’s scary because you’re alone,” said Tyeisha Pugh, a black firefighter who joined in 2016, during the city council’s recent town hall meeting. “When people complain, it’s only when they’ve really been through a lot.”

Farinacci, the fire department spokeswoman, credited the progress the department has made with the women who have advocated for it. “Thanks to the help of firefighters like Wilson and Srisakul, who shared their stories and worked tirelessly to recruit and mentor members, we can continue to diversify our ranks and ensure fair and equal treatment for all of our members,” she said.

When asked by Gothamist last month if he would be willing to implement stricter accountability measures within the department, Adams said “yes,” but added that he wanted to speak to Wilson of the Vulcan Society first.

Not all female firefighters reported having difficult experiences, suggesting that the culture of an individual fire station can make a significant difference.

Casey Chan, who joined in 2019, is the only woman stationed at Engine 15 in Lower Manhattan. She grew up nearby in Chinatown, where she says she never knew anyone who had been a firefighter.

In an interview with a New York Fire Department spokesman who was present, she praised her fire department, which she said was more ethnically diverse, for taking “very good care of her.”

Still, Chan acknowledged that expectations for male and female firefighters are not the same. “Do I think I’ve had to work a little harder as a woman? Absolutely,” she said.

“I think tradition teaches us a lot,” she added. “I think tradition also holds on to a lot of things that don’t hold up well to external changes. We have to adapt to a changing city.”

Chan argued that diversity benefits not only firefighters, but also the people they help. “We go into people’s homes and encounter them at their worst moments,” she said. “I have to be able to communicate with them in a way that makes them feel safe.”

Crystal Hudson, co-chair of the council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, who moderated the town hall meeting, told Gothamist that she believes Kavanagh is committed to addressing discrimination issues, but the task is still difficult.

“You have to stand up against systemic bias and against people who, frankly, don’t want change,” Hudson says.

Many have called Kavanagh a trailblazer. There are almost no other women in leadership positions in the New York City Fire Department. In about 250 fire stations and EMS stations throughout New York City, there is only one female fire chief.

Others, however, viewed Kavanagh as a problem. Some within the New York City Fire Department criticized her for never having been a female firefighter, even though the city had several former male commissioners who had no experience as firefighters.

Srisakul, the first Asian American female firefighter, said that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she “just fell in love with the idea of ​​doing this job and helping people.”

The benefits and salary, which can rise to over $110,000 per year after five years, were also attractive.

Srisakul passed the physical test with flying colors, but waited two years before being called to the academy. The firehouse often had no changing rooms for women. She said she was bullied during her first year as a probationary firefighter, when she and other so-called “probationers” were assigned menial jobs as part of an initiation ritual.

“A lot of people said, ‘I did that when I came on stage, so I’ll do that with you, too,'” she said.

But Srisakul believed her experience of harassment — which included being yelled at about the dishwasher and receiving notes saying “women have no place in this profession” — went even further because of her gender.

She doesn’t want to use her story to discourage other women from becoming firefighters.

“I didn’t stay because every day was bad,” she said, adding that she made good friends in the department. “But there are things that need to be fixed.”