RE'BUFF'ED BY FDNY
This guy's unfit to fight fires because he's 30?
In the FDNY’s eyes, this aspiring firefighter belongs in an old smokes home.
Rob Becerra, who turned 30 in April, was barred from taking the current FDNY entrance exam, the first open to the public in five years, because city rules exclude those who have reached their 29th birthday.
“At 30 years old, I’m in the best physical shape of my life,” said Becerra, a buff and chiseled personal trainer. “According to the FDNY, I’m ready for the AARP.”
Among fire departments nationwide, the FDNY has one of the most age-restrictive — some say “archaic” — rules. The maximum age is 37 in Chicago, 36 in Houston, and 32 in Boston. Philadelphia, Miami and Los Angeles have no age caps.
“Talk about age discrimination. You’re telling me I can’t do the job — I’m too old? An outrage at the least, especially for all the people in my age bracket — 30 to 35,” Becerra posted on Facebook.
The FDNY makes exceptions. Military vets can have the age limit raised by one year for each year they served. Also, after paying $98 million to settle a federal race-discrimination lawsuit in 2014, the FDNY hired previously passed-over blacks and Hispanics in their 30s and early 40s. A 44-year-old rookie graduated in April. All were assigned to firehouses, not desk jobs. Becerra, of Queens, decided to apply to join New York’s Bravest four years ago — too late to take the last FDNY open-competitive exam in 2012. He made up his mind to sign up for the next exam.
“I always loved to help people,” saidd Becerra. “It took a little later in life to realize I wanted to be a firefighter.”
Applications forr the current exam finally opened on April 5. At age 29, he was turned away.
“It’s disheartening when they tell you you’re too old,” he said. “I know a couple guys who are 25, and, with all due respect, they’re in nowhere near as good physical shape as I am, yet they have the opportunity. It’s not about age — it’s whether you can do the job.”
Becerra, 5-foot-11 and a lean 170 pounds, stripped down for The Post to show his muscular physique. “I work out five days a week. I can bench 315 pounds. I can run a mile in under six minutes,” he said.
“It’s a shame,” said girlfriend Grace Navarro, who vouched for his prowess. Becerra comes to her rescue when she’s walking too far in heels: “Sometimes he’ll pick me up, and carry me for blocks.”
Last year, City Councilman Andy King (D-Bronx) introduced a bill to raise the maximum age to join the FDNY from 28 to 36.
The current cap “might have worked in 1950, but people are living longer today and keeping themselves healthier,” King told The Post. “If a person isn’t in shape, we aren’t hiring them anyway.”
All the FDNY unions and groups, including the Vulcan Society of black firefighters, supported the bill — but the FDNY objected, fearing it might dilute its $10 million minority recruitment drive, King said. But King, who is black, said the current rule constitutes “age discrimination against people of any color.”
An FDNY spokesman said the department is “open to” a change.