from CN Townsville bureau
Queensland’s hapless Fire and Emergency Services Minister Comrade Craig Crawford recently ordered the State’s permanent firefighters to undergo a rigorous fitness test but discovered to his horror three quarters of the 3,337 seasoned firies failed.
Just two of 56 recruits who passed the new testing regimen and progressed to the paid 16 week training course were women.
Senior firemen say the test was devised to weed out female recruits. Last year only 24 of 148 new recruits were women.
The upgraded physical testing procedure includes a beep test, aerobic fitness, muscular strength and endurance assessments.
The high level of fitness failures sits astride the refusal of more than 17,000 volunteer rural firefighters to apply for a working with children blue card.
Volunteers say they are more interested in saving lives and property from bush fires than playing footsie with the Marxist policies of the QFES, Comrade Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Craig Crawford, who happens to a be a former ambulance driver from Victoria.
The attempted hijacking of the volunteer Rural Fire Service by the QFES has created widespread disharmony and many thousands of potential resignations from the RFS.
Recently, Crawford was asked by a volunteer to provide any contract between the QFES and individual volunteers. He was unable to do so, consequently the corporate QFES is legally unable to take over the RFS.
We need less people on the fire front. We need Amphibious planes like CL215 from Canadian Air.
2 are needed for each State. The biggest bungle was using hired water bombers hired at huge cost. Taking up to 4 hrs turn around. The Viking CL215 waterbombers carry more water and can fill from the River or the sea. Also Water cannon attached to fire trucks top and under Neath will do a better job than boots on the ground. Shooting water up to eighty feet. Firemen can water down and protect homes and assets.
The easy way is here. I have spoken with an ex fire chief and he agrees. Buy our own Viking water bombers. He thought the last figure for hiring waterbombers. Choppers fixed wing came to 240 plus million dollars. Each Viking waterbomber cost 30 million dollars. Could have bought eight. Now is the time to act.
However getting rid of Prescribed burns and Slashing instead will keep some firies employed.
No, quite a few would fail.Editor
Have all Labor Party politicians and their staff got Blue Cards ?