A Depleted Cadre

Mr. Layne won a July 7 runoff election in an open race to become the full-time officer for the union's 80 Fire Marshals, a force that has been severely depleted by budget cuts.

A decade ago, nearly 250 Firefighters were assigned to investigate suspicious fires in the city. Last year, Mayor Bloomberg closed the unit's Queens and Bronx bases, sharply reduced the duties of the Manhattan office, and sent more than half the marshals back to their firehouses to fill vacancies and thereby reduce the city's overtime costs.

As a union officer, Mr. Layne said he will seek changes in the Bureau of Fire Investigation to ease the strain of the reduced staffing.

He wants the city to open a second 24-hour office for the unit, in addition to the Brooklyn office in Bay Ridge, so that Fire Marshals won't have to travel as far to respond to calls. "I've had instances where I've had to report from Staten Island up to the north Bronx," he said. "These are the cards we have to play right now."

Pushes for Differential

While he strongly supports the UFA's demand for an across-the-board raise for Firefighters, Mr. Layne wants to see a greater differential for taking on Fire Marshal duties. He points out that he and his colleagues are required to carry a firearm while on duty. "The liability is tremendous for us, and we're not paid accordingly," he said.

A Firefighter for 18 years and a Fire Marshal for four, Mr. Layne has replaced Fire Marshal Representative Ed Burke, who chose not to run for reelection after six years on the UFA board.

Before entering the Fire Academy, Mr. Layne served about a year with the New York State Police in the Albany area, and also worked briefly as a toll collector for the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.

He caught the firefighting bug earlier as a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, when his search for an off-campus job led him to join the town's fire department as a dispatcher. He soon advanced to code inspection work and a paid position as a firefighter.

Blacks Losing Ground

Mr. Layne notes with regret that not many young black people are choosing a similar career path in the FDNY. The department boosted its black membership in the 1970s under a consent decree that established a limited quota system, but the hiring since then hasn't kept pace. Today, the 11,000-member department includes 295 black firefighters, according to the FDNY.

"When I joined the Fire Department in 1986, there were actually more blacks in the department then than there are now," Mr. Layne said. "I don't really know why. I have my suspicions that it's not all that simple as the Fire Department might make it out to be."

Mr. Layne believes potential minority recruits who lack a family connection to the profession get a limited view of firefighting. As he put it, "They see us the 5 percent of the time we're working" and rushing into burning buildings, but never glimpse the camaraderie back at the firehouse and off the job.

The low number of minority firefighters also hampers recruitment, he adds. When potential applicants look at the department, "The image for black firefighters is not as strong as for white males. And also, they hear about the job from me or other black firefighters, but we don't always have the opportunity to speak to everyone."

Mr. Layne runs his own minority recruiting program while on his assignments to track down arson suspects. "I talk a lot to Correction Officers, Police Officers, people who have already qualified for civil service. That makes it easier to try and convince them," he said. He admits, however, "It's an uphill battle."