A woke UK fire service chief has come under fire himself after banning his staff from using the word ‘fireman’.
Dave Russel has insisted that the word will no longer be tolerated because it is ‘sexist’ and ‘exclusionary’ and claiming it represents ‘micro-aggression’.
The common term is often used by the public to describe members of the fire-tackling emergency service, but it has not been officially used since the 1980s when it was replaced by “firefighter”.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
The Mail Online reports: Greater Manchester Chief Fire Officer Mr Russel, who is paid £172,000 a year, said in an email to staff: ‘We employ firefighters not “firemen” and haven’t for decades so why use the term?
‘Here it regularly slips into people’s everyday vocabulary, and it very often goes unnoticed and unchallenged because it’s just become “the way things are around here”.
But its connotation is sexist, exclusionary and represents a form of micro-aggression that is damaging to our culture.
‘This needs to stop and the term permanently erased from our vocabulary.’
His tough stance angered Andy Morgan, a former member of Greater Manchester Fire Authority, who said: ‘It’s ridiculous. It’s wokeism gone mad.’
He said the term fireman was part of the service’s ‘long and outstanding history’, adding: ‘Yes, the world moves on, but you cannot erase the past.’
Conservative MP Scott Benton branded Mr Russel’s move ‘more nonsense’ following an earlier ‘ridiculous’ campaign to cancel children’s TV character Fireman Sam.
