Five communities in New Jersey consolidated their fire departments to create a regional fire department. Applicants for entry-level firefighter positions were required to reside in one of the five communities at the time at which they took the statewide civil service test to be considered for employment. Only two of the department’s 302 firefighters were African American. Within the member communities, 3.4 percent of the population is African American, compared to 15.8 percent of the population within a ten-mile radius. Within the tri-county area surrounding these five communities, 37.4 percent of full-time, protective service workers are African American. The regional fire department asserts that the residency requirement is justifiable because it means that firefighters are more familiar with buildings and streets, response times for emergency call-ins are shorter, and (because the communities are heavily Latino) it increases the number of Spanish-speaking firefighters. However, the residency requirement only pertains to an applicant’s residence at the time that the exam is taken. Currently employed firefighters are allowed to live wherever they wish and about two-thirds actually reside outside of the five community area. Does this residency requirement create adverse impact against African Americans? Why or why not?