Take the firefighter's exam at 18 and wait impatiently all those years, working as an environmental scientist, until you are called -- finally! -- at 25. Be so upbeat that, at 27, you think you know what the future holds: husband, father, upstate homeowner, lieutenant, captain, chief.
But with the $270,000 report behind schedule and pressure on to grow the LAFD force, city officials decided to restart hiring, using the new lottery to determine who could take the firefighter test.
Too old to take the firefighters' test again, he said, "they have a skill that isn't marketable in the outside world". The twins, who live with their wives and children in the suburb of Milton, have declined to comment.
As written, the decree requires that half of those allowed to take the firefighters' exam must be Caucasian, the city attorney's office said in its brief.
After the attacks, he took the firefighter test, completing the application days before the 29th-birthday cutoff.
Of the 42,161 applicants who took the firefighter exam this spring, 19,260 were nonwhite and 1,952 were women — both all-time highs for groups traditionally underrepresented in the department, the fire commissioner, Salvatore J. Cassano, said on Tuesday.
"He took the firefighters and their fraternity, or brotherhood, to heart," said Mr. Chelsen's son, Christopher, 24.
It took the firefighters about five minutes to rescue Mason, who walked away from the death trap without a scratch, though he was a little embarrassed, the AP reports.
Mr. Miller told investigators he was home on leave from the Air Force to take the New York City firefighters' exam, Detective Harpp said.
"It is about groups that target families who are flying on airplanes, and take the lives of firefighters who are trying to rescue other people.
Take the city's firefighters, as noble a group as you will find, and that was true long before Sept. 11.
