Posted on 12/18/2018 3:08:22 PM PST by DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis
Picture a typical firefighter. Who comes to mind? If you imagined a white man, that’s understandable: 96% of U.S. career firefighters are men, and 82% are white. This homogeneity is striking, especially when you compare it to the U.S. military, which is 85% men and 60% white, and local police forces, which are 88% men and 73% white.
Many fire departments recognize that their lack of diversity as a problem and say they’re committed to increasing racial and gender diversity. “We have to diversify, because it actually improves our organization. It helps us address the needs of the public better,” says Derek Alkonis, the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) assistant chief. Ralph Terrazas, chief of the Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD), agrees: “[We] will provide a higher level of service to the communities we serve when the people of that department respect the culture, language and beliefs of the people within that community.”
But what’s the actual path for departments achieving more diversity? And if they do so, will their members embrace how it improves their organization?
Answering these questions requires a closer look at two factors: what firefighters’ work actually consists of and what departments are currently doing to address diversity in their ranks. The answers suggest we need a new model for leaders.
> White fireman walks in
> "Ew back off! I don't want to be saved by a nasty white man!"
> *Dies*
“Many fire departments recognize that their lack of diversity as a problem...”
No they dont. They recognize the politically correct as a threat to their lives.
If my home is on fire the ethnic background of the firemen is the LEAST of my worries.
Why no Harvard articles of getting diversity into the NBA?
Because diversity is code for anti-white
Oh Boy...Here we go.
Come and see, as qualified Firemen are passed over for advancement because they are not of a certain race or sex.
Please explain to me in measurable and quantifiable statistics, how "diversity" actually improves .... anything.
Further, please explain how "diversity" is better than excellence.
I am a little troubled by the under-representation of pro-fire activists in US fire departments ...
I was fishing at a local lake, and what looked like a water rescue team training exercise was going on. It was being taught by a little person. Struck me as odd.
I remember watching an interview with Gloria Allred about female firefighters. When NONE of the candidates could complete the necessary tasks in testing like hauling a 150 lb dummy out of the “fire”, she would argue that the better way was to drag the body out by the feet, because there is “less smoke near the ground”. All I could picture was the persons head bouncing on every step on the way down.
Didn’t matter. Lots of fire departments dumbed down the physical requirements, public safety be damned. And yet women still aren’t lining up for the job.
this is just an effort to make fire departments less competent, and make firefighting more dangerous, and deadly. But, as long as it’s more diverse, that’s OK.
Really? So competent firemen are a problem? Or is just a matter of FU white man?? Whites need to start standing up to this crap. Whites need to organize and start pushing back.
Okay, I can maybe get why diversity in a police force is good. But in the fire department? I’m pretty sure I want the strongest, bravest, intelligent- and educated-enough first responders I can find for that—whatever their color.
“Diverse and inclusive”, yes, I’m sure a fire cares about what the people fighting it look like. But it all depends on what you think the purpose of a fire department is. If you think its main purpose is fighting fires and saving lives, you man it with the best people who can do those jobs. But if you look at a fire department’s purpose is to provide a good living for those who are a part of it, then you want to make sure that these good jobs are fairly spread around.
I can see the point of hiring women police officers. Although not likely as good as a man in taking a bad guy down, women can and do approach human interactions differently than men and that can be valuable in police work.
But fires? What part of firefighting is a woman likely to do better than a man? I realize there are exceptions, but they are rare. Pound for pound men are stronger than women, and men are likely to have twice as many pounds going for them.
I’m not saying that women should never be firefighters, but the idea that it is a good idea to replace men with women in the fire stations is absurd.
I don’t want a metrosexual trying to save my azz in an emergency.
If my home was on fire, and I refused the help of a firefighter based on their race, I deserve to suffer any and all consequences for my own stupidity. So if a person told a firefighter they don’t want their help because they’re white/black/purple/polka-dotted, I’d have the fire crew just pack up and leave the stupid fool to their fate.
No, We need to bring ADA to fire departments. We need blind, firefighters, deaf firefighters, and fire fighters in wheelchairs. Diversity is much more important than saving lives. (/sarcasm).
Actually, I know a woman who was a power lifter and trained to become a firefighter. I would have no problem with having her drag me out of a burning building. Not many like her, but she also had wilderness EMT training before starting the fire department EMT training. Eventually, she because a physician’s assistant.
I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I don’t know why but I don’t see much diversity in volunteer fire departments. Some of them are really struggling to keep members
One point about the life of a firefighter. We live together for 24 or 48 hours at a time. Run calls, eat, sleep, everything. Bringing a female into that environment is very disruptive. There are a few that try to blend in but there are a whole lot more that soon resort to “I’m going to do whatever I want because I’m a female and if you don’t like it I’ll meet you in HR”
Then there are the inevitable he’in and she’in that is apt to start and jealousies.
It just end up being a corrosive atmosphere with both the innocent and guilty parties being hurt or destroyed.
Fire departments obviously need more 99-pound weaklings, blind, deaf, pryrophobics, paraplegics, and quadriplegics amongst their ranks.
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