Abstract :
The city of St Louis, MO, has often had legal problems in the use of tests and evaluations for candidate promotion within the fire service. In 1974 there were very few African Americans in the higher ranges of the St Louis fire service although the city is 40% or more black. Changes in civil service testing, affirmative action programs, and a consent decree or cited as some of the reasons there has been a large increase in minority employees in the St Louis fire service.