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"The Fire dept in NYC is one that comes to mind. It used to be that a firefighter had to be able to carry 175lb down a ladder in order to qualify in the physical testing."

I had not heard about the lives lost, since standards had been lowered to include women (and smaller men). I apologize for my ignorance. By the way, would you be kind enough to post that article about people burning to death while waiting for a female firefighter to rescue them? Or, are these articles not being published to protect the ineptness of female firefighters? I'm kind of embarassed now, about the years I spent on the volunteer fire department.

I never said lives were lost. What I said was the standards for the test of physical strength were lowered for WOMEN. Not for smaller men as you attempted to insert into the discussion. It was the women who were whining about discrimination in the testing process, not smaller men.

I am not against women as fire fighters or women in any other field of work. What I am is against CHANGING the criteria for hiring where that change endangers the lives of the very people they are supposed to protect. If you can't see how a change like this would be detrimental to the general publics safety then we have no further reason to discuss this particular subject.

As far as anything being reported to the public in the case of a fire fighter being unable to carry a victim due to size and the subsequent death of the victim, of course it would not happen. It would be totally "politically INcorrect" for it ever to be said that a women firefighter caused the death of a victim because she was not strong enough to carry him/her down a ladder.

Gee, wouldn't it be funny if you were in a building with another few people and the only way out was the window? Here comes the fire fighter up the ladder and lo and behold it's a women. There you and your friends are and instead of just removing all of you to the cherry picker she can only take the ones that weigh 125 lbs or less. Or if you are alone and it is a ladder only or the fire fighter comes up the stairs to where you are to rescue you, only to have to tell you to wait while she calls somebody else who can carry you to safety.

Hey, no big deal for the NOW gang. So what if a few people die unnecessarily. As long as Sally gets to be a fire person.