The International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters brought together 500 servicemen and women from across the globe in Cincinnati for its 55th biannual convention.The week-long event, which runs through Saturday, A ug. 22, included registration, international business sessions and workshops. The Cincinnati African American Firefighters Association served as the host chapter responsible for programming outside the formal conference."It's when we get an opportunity to come together, talk about our strategic plans for advancing African Americans in fire service issues that we have with membership," CAFA President C.J. Battle said.For decades, Black firefighters faced discrimination in hiring, promotions and treatment on the job. Battle said the organization continues working to address those challenges today."The best indicator of future behavior is previous behavior," Battle said. "So we act as a system of checks and balances to have that discrimination and unfair treatment, inequitable treatment that African Americans especially dealt with in the fire service. So what we do is we come together, and we talk, and we network, and we find ways to prevent the past from repeating itself."Black firefighters make up just over 8% of the nation's firefighting workforce. Battle said the Cincinnati Fire Department comprises approximately 900 firefighters, with about 24 to 25% African American. He noted the goal is for the department's makeup to reflect the city's demographics."We still have a long way to go," Battle said. "But we are doing very, very well. Shout out to our command staff; I think we have 6 assistant chiefs, and it's almost three-thirds. So diversity is something that the city of Cincinnati has definitely put a lot of work on."As part of the convention, CAFA hosted a ticketed public event Thursday evening featuring the premiere of a documentary highlighting the chapter's history, followed by remarks from motivational speaker Dr. Umar Johnson.WATCH: Why IABPFF's 55th biannual convention is historical this year Black firefighters from across the globe gather for IABPFF's 55th convention"When our executive board took leadership, that's something that we always wanted to video exactly these stories that our elders are telling," Battle said. "You know, because that history will be lost. So now we have video documentation of that. We're going to present it to the International. It'll also be posted on all our social media platforms."Battle acknowledged Johnson's presence drew attention."We know he's controversial. We do know that," Battle said. "But our organization is proud to be able to present a platform for African Americans to have that dialogue. It's important for us."The convention also included a Besties Brunch for women in the fire service, an event Battle said was a priority for CAFA's leadership."African Americans in the fire service are already limited, let alone Black women," Battle said. "So we had to do something special for them, let our queens know that we support them, we hear from them, and we ain't going nowhere."Battle said he is personally looking forward to connecting with the public and sharing what a career in firefighting can offer."So many people have so many questions about the fire service because a lot of people aren't exposed to it," Battle said. "I only work two days a week. I work nine days a month. Every three weeks I get five days off. This is a great career with great benefits. It's changed my life, changed my children's lives."More information is available at cafafire.org and on CAFA's social media platforms."I'm proud to be a Cincinnati firefighter. I'm proud to be the CAFA president, and I'm extremely excited to show all my brothers and sisters from all across the nation how we do here in Cincinnati," Battle said. ...read more read less