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Code Red: Fighting Fires, Racism, and Policies in Emergency Safety Services

James E. Wright et al.

Review of Public Personnel Administration2026https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x251411200article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Scholarship on institutional and structural racism in frontline work is essential for improved service delivery outcomes. This study expands this realm of scholarship and practice by examining the job experiences of Black firefighters in predominantly White fire departments. Semi-structured interviews with 21 Black firefighters on citizen interactions, representation in their organization and leadership, racist experiences, and unique challenges they faced. The findings demonstrated that (1) Black firefighters experienced double standards compared to White firefighters, (2) Black firefighters’ qualifications were consistently questioned, and (3) they dealt with significant stereotyping and prejudice in the workplace. Taken together, these results suggest that institutional and structural racism in frontline work is produced through Black firefighters’ interactions with colleagues and supervisors, through the unequal application of punitive policies or through experiencing expressions of racial stereotypes. These results have practical implications for how to recruit and retain racially minoritized employees in frontline work.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x251411200

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{james2026,
  title        = {{Code Red: Fighting Fires, Racism, and Policies in Emergency Safety Services}},
  author       = {James E. Wright et al.},
  journal      = {Review of Public Personnel Administration},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x251411200},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.