but ask them to become a firefighter and you will hear crickets.
hmmmm hubby was a firefighter for 33 yrs. I know by sight or name almost everyone in a 450 man/woman dept. I also know many CDF and BLM people. I know quite a few BFD (city) firefighters here. Guess what? they ALL speak English!
What an assinine statement.
By the bilingual standards crowd, if taken to the Nth degree, everyone should speak at least 170 different languages including 3,000 more dialects.