INDIANAPOLIS — Corey Floyd grew up right around the corner from Fire Station 31 off of East 46th Street.
"It was known as a predominately black house at the time. When I was a kid, that’s where I saw black firefighters at," said Floyd.
Floyd now works inside the building as the president of the Black Firefighters Association. He's also been a firefighter with IFD for the last 19 years and is building a museum inside the old station that showcases IFD's black history dating back to the 1870's.
Floyd says it started with four firefighters: Thomas Smith, Robert Braxton, James Graves and Thomas Howard.
"These four guys that blazed the trail for African Americans, like myself, to come on the job and be firefighters," said Floyd.
Floyd hopes it will also serve as a tool for more African Americans to want to be firefighters.
"You can’t be what you can’t see. It’s a great opportunity for youth and others of that nature to be able to come and see themselves — See people that thrived in a profession that is honorable," said Floyd.
The most recent numbers show IFD has 1,225 people on staff. Just over 16% of the firefighters are black.
The city's Office of Equity of Inclusion says departments are always working to increase those numbers.
"We’re always going to be striving to have our workforce reflect what the city looks like, and we know that number is lower than what our city looks like, but it’s definitely improving. It’s definitely progress," said Ben Tapper, IFD's Chief Diversity and Equity Officer.
"As we form a good force — a stronger force — we are actually seeing our minority firefighters a great percentage, even though a low percentage of the department, are becoming part of the command staff, being part of the operations leader and things of that nature," said Floyd.
Floyd says taking a look back at history only strengthens a department moving forward.
"It’s a great recruitment tool, but it’s also a way and an avenue we can use to introduce this profession. Every firefighter will tell you this is the best job in the world," said Floyd.
The museum will also display uniforms and community efforts and have an area to honor fallen firefighters.
