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> This is how you get 100lb women in the fire department who can't even control a fire hose at full pressure.

\1 Is this a real problem in actual fire deployments or simply a made up bit of Fox News DEI outrage?

\2 Here in the Western Australian rural bush fire service 100lb women and people in wheelchairs are valuable members that operate GIS terminals, coordinate aircraft, work as administrators and bookkeepers, etc.

It is a thing that happens and it also includes small women (and sometimes men) who aren't able to carry the weight they should be able to.

It is verifiable fact that the LAFD has lowered the strength requirements considerable in order to allow for smaller people. And with the current fires, there is a plenty of footage of small people not being able to do the heavy physical stuff.

And certainly women (and small men) can do many other useful things, but they people that operate GIS terminals would not be "firefighters" in the categorical sense even if they are valuable parts of the fire fighting team.