Get out your hose I smell a FIRE

NINE SCOTTISH firefighters
who refused to hand out flyers at a ‘gay pride’ event have been reprimanded and forced to attend ‘intensive’ diversity training. Several of the firefighters from the Cowcaddens fire station in Glasgow objected to giving out the leaflets on religious and moral grounds.

Others refused because of embarrassment and because they did not regard distributing leaflets to gay people as part of their core duties. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, the Most Rev Mario Conti, criticised the decision by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service for disciplining the men. He said it was ‘alarming’ they were being made to attend diversity training, and added: “These men were asked, while in uniform, to hand out leaflets during a demonstration where they had legitimate concerns about being the subject of taunts and jokes, and in which, in some cases, their religious sensibilities would have been grossly offended by people dressed as priests and nuns lampooning the Church.”

But a statement from the Strathclyde Fire Service said the officers had carried out a ‘fundamental breach’ of one of their core responsibilities. It said: “Firefighters cannot, and will not, pick and choose to whom they offer fire safety advice. “Strathclyde Fire and Rescue has a responsibility to protect every one of the 2.3 million people it serves, irrespective of race, religion or sexuality.”