How AFD Ranks
Fri., Oct. 16, 2009
| AFD RANK | Male | Female | Caucasian | Hispanic | African-American | Other |
| Assistant Chief | 5 (100%) | - | 3 (60%) | 1 (20%) | 1 (20%) | - |
| Division Chief | 4 (80%) | 1 (20%) | 5 (100%) | - | - | - |
| Battalion Chief | 33 (100%) | - | 32 (97%) | 1 (3%) | - | - |
| Captain | 69 (100%) | - | 64 (92.8%) | 4 (5.8%) | 1 (1.5%) | - |
| Lieutenant | 175 (98.9%) | 2 (1.1%) | 152 (85.9%) | 18 (10.2%) | 5 (2.8%) | 2 (1.1%) |
| Specialist | 187 (94.4%) | 11 (5.6%) | 163 (82.3%) | 25 (12.6%) | 10 (5.1%) | - |
| Firefighter | 508 (92.7%) | 40 (7.3%) | 396 (72.3%) | 103 (18.8%) | 37 (6.8%) | 12 (2.2%) |
| All Ranks | 981 (94.8%) | 54 (5.2%) | 815 (78.7%) | 152 (14.7%) | 54 (5.2%) | 14 (1.4%) |
As Austin Firefighters Association President Stephen Truesdell notes, roughly 5% of the Austin Fire Department is female – and compared to the national average, approximately 3%, "that's a good number." Still, from looking at this breakdown of gender and ethnicity in the Austin Fire Department, it's obvious that AFD – like departments around the country – has a long way to go before it's as diverse as the community it serves.
Although women make up more than 7% of all firefighters and minorities almost 28%, the upper ranks are over-whelmingly male and white. Below Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr on the organization chart, of the next 112 positions, only one is a woman, and only eight are minorities.
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