Women F/Fs Ordered Stay Out of Burning buildings

[SHFD781 0]

It shouldn't have come to this. I can't believe this is happening whether it is true or not.

Clearwater, Florida Chief Orders Women Firefighters to Stay Out of Burning Buildings

Updated: 09-20-2005 11:08:44 AM

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- The city's fire chief has ordered women firefighters to temporarily stay out of burning buildings amid threats that their male colleagues might not protect them.

Clearwater Fire & Rescue Chief Jamie D. Geer said he issued the directive last weekend after learning that the safety of some of the city's nine female firefighters had been threatened because they talked about quitting the local firefighters' union.

''I take these threats very seriously, credible or not,'' Geer wrote in a Saturday e-mail to fire department employees and city officials.

Union leaders, however, said they have no details of wrongdoing and called the idea of firefighters threatening other firefighters ''far-reaching.''

''We have no information, we have nothing but e-mails and innuendoes,'' union treasurer and secretary Dave Hogan said. ''To tell you the truth, I don't think there's a single member of our fire department that would threaten anybody, let alone a fellow firefighter.''

Geer, who launched an internal investigation, would not specify precisely what the threats made to the female firefighters were, nor would he say how many women had received them. He also said they didn't wish to be identified.

The directive applies to the nine women among the department's 179 firefighters who may find themselves called upon to enter a burning structure, Geer said.

The women have been allowed to ask for a transfer or time off, but none has so far, said Geer, who has no timetable to complete his investigation.

Fire Lt. Anna Rowell, a 12-year veteran, told the St. Petersburg Times that she had not been threatened and didn't know who had.

Rowell expressed concern that Geer's order would hurt the standing of all the women in the department.

''We have a very strong union. We have a lot of strong people in the union,'' Rowell said. ''I think they can be intimidating. However, as a firefighter, I have felt nothing but taken care of by the guys in the fire department.''

Copyright 2005 Associated Press

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/a...nId=46&id=44758

[cas2383 22]

Tough decision the cheif had to make sticking his neck out for his firefighters, if he cant gurantee their safety he is making the right call. Once again IF the situation is in fact true it is utterly ridculous and the union members involved should be terminated. Union or non any, discrepency that leads to threats or even the possiblity of not helping your fellow firefighter in the line of duty deserves the utmost severeity of punishment and should not be tolerated.

[Guest]

Being a female firefighter I find that really disturbing that some one would even joke with a threat like that. Nobody should ever feel like their fellow Fire fighters would not back them up no matter what type of call it is.

[jd783 64]

Firehouse.com Home > News Headlines

Ban on Florida Women Firefighters in Burning Buildings is Rescinded

Updated: 09-23-2005 11:29:29 AM

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- A fire chief has rescinded an order that temporarily prohibited female firefighters from entering burning buildings because male colleagues allegedly threatened not to protect them. City officials said the women refused to cooperate with investigators.

''Our preliminary investigation has indicated that there is no immediate threat at this time,'' according to a written statement by city spokeswoman Joelle Wiley Castelli.

Clearwater Fire & Rescue Chief Jamie D. Geer issued the directive Saturday after learning that the safety of some of the city's nine female firefighters had been threatened because they talked about quitting the local firefighters' union.

Mayor Frank Hibbard said at least two female firefighters claimed to have been told that the next fire they fight could be their last, but the women refused to identify who made the threat.

''We can't follow up on it if they aren't willing to follow through and testify,'' Hibbard said.

Geer did not immediately return a message left early Thursday

[COMMANDCHIEF 4]

Why were the women thinking about leaving the union? That is something the article mentions. but never goes into.

[Remember585 815]

Good to see that we still have some cavemen in the fire service.

Let's not end it with just sexism, let's keep the ball rolling BACKWARDS in time. Let's discriminate because of religion, and race, and anything else we possibly can. COME ON PEOPLE!!!! WAKE THE FCK UP, IT'S 2005 FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!