Posted on 05/04/2015 2:35:32 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
This promises to turn into a sticky wicket for the New York City Fire Department. One of their upcoming graduates is going to be accepted into the ranks and go to work as a firefighter despite having failed a grueling physical test multiple times. This comes as a result of recent changes to the city’s criteria for how graduates are scored.
Rebecca Wax, 33, is set to graduate Tuesday from the Fire Academy without passing the Functional Skills Training test, a grueling obstacle course of job-related tasks performed in full gear with a limited air supply, an insider has revealed.
“They’re going to allow the first person to graduate without passing because this administration has lowered the standard,” said the insider, who is familiar with the training.
Upon graduation, Wax would be assigned to a firehouse and tasked with the full duties of a firefighter. Some FDNY members are angry.
“We’re being asked to go into a fire with someone who isn’t 100 percent qualified,” the source said. “Our job is a team effort. If there’s a weak link in the chain, either civilians or our members can die.”
We should start by noting that firefighter training is hard. Perhaps not on the level of Army Ranger training, but you’ve got to be in seriously good shape to get through it. The requirements for the test which Ms. Wax failed to complete include climbing in full gear while carrying heavy equipment, rescuing victims in zero visibility, breaking down doors, and doing it all while breathing oxygen from a tank on a limited timer. I’m fairly sure that if I tried it the next piece I’d be working on writing would be my obituary.
But still, those are the requirements for a very physical, demanding job. Or at least they used to be. Under pressure to hire more female firefighters, the city has changed their policy to balance the scholastic portions with the physical portions and you can get a high enough score to graduate without being able to complete the rigorous test described above. So is that fair, or does it weaken the force?
It’s not as if there aren’t any women who can do it, but their numbers are small. Only 44 of the current 10,500 firefighters in the Big Apple are female, due in no small part to the physical rigors of the testing. The military has had to deal with the same problem, but they seem to manage. But this isn’t the military, so how should New York proceed going forward? Their own firefighters – including some of the women – are upset that Wax is getting a pass on a test which they all had to succeed at to qualify. And when it comes time to face a serious emergency, is the public being served by lowering the standards just to achieve some mandated level of gender parity?
It seems to me that that the FDNY might be able to resolve this situation by more actively recruiting qualified female candidates. The fact that they already found some women from the home grown ranks who can meet the requirements tells me that there are probably more out there. But since they already loosened the requirements, the horse is out of the barn. The city government is now facing a nasty problem which is entirely of their own making.
What could go wrong?
Ain’t diversity grand?...
The physical test is just another example of patriarchal rape culture. Certification should focus more on academics, like the article said. Especially Wymyns Studies. After the men carry women out of burning buildings, this Rebecca Wax can go around asking if any of them if they consented to being carried, or if they felt like they were being raped by being carried out.
This is all DeBlasio's doing. He is lowering the standards when they don't need to be lowered for women.
If some ones house is burning down and she is unable to save them or if she endangers fellow firefighters will the liberal politicians accept responsibility?
Women’s oxygen capacity is a lot less than a man’s. Not just a minor difference. Somewhere along the lines of the fittest levels of younger womens’ capacities are somewhere around 70% of what a 50-55 year old average non-smoking males’ is.
Which means some man will have to do her job for her.
Which means the full compliment of men on the scene will never be up to par, because one of the people on the scene will not be able to do the tasks her job requires.
Which means there will be more women admitted because she was.
Which means that over time a larger percentage on the scene of a fire will be incompetent.
Which means other firemen will have to do their job and more.
Which means that those on the scene of a fire will be in more danger than they would otherwise have been.
Which means that in some instances, nobody will have their back, when in the old days someone always did.
Same in the military mow. Some women and left wing nuts complained about women being not accepted in the military. they were accepted into combat units and now complain that they can’t pass the test.
Is that a trick question?
Hope she can cook!
33 years old with a double chin. It’s no wonder she didn’t pass the test.
War on people who need to be rescued from burning buildings.
Well, at least the last thing that the victims see before they die will be a fire team with 50% men and 50% women. The victims can burn to death with a smile on their faces knowing that gender parity has been achieved.
Political correctness. 
So who dies when she can’t cut the mustard?
"Wax completed the physical course once
in 22 minutes
after running out of air" - that would make 2 victims in an interior fire that other firemen would have to pull out of a burning building.
If someone dies as a result of lowering the physical fitness requirement for this one female fire fighter, would the city be subject to a law suit? If so, why should the citizens of the city have to pay? If that scenario comes to pass, the person who lowered the requirements just for her should be personally sued.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.