 The IABFF played a role in the lawsuits that dotted the landscape in the 70's and 80's.Once chapters were organized around the country, legal avenues were opened to force diversity.In other cities integration of the fire services were not the case, notably Boston('75), Birmingham('81), Miami('77), Memphis('74, '80), San Francisco('70),Chicago, Omaha, Austin, St. Louis ('75), Hartford and Los Angeles('74); where consent decrees forced ‘quotas’ to be imposed in hiring firefighters to mostly white depts.