John Derbyshire credulously relates an anecdote to us from Fox News:
Well, there is an urgent need for firefighters in the West to battle about two dozen major wildfires. The Denver channel dot-com [?] reports that many of the new recruits are Hispanics who speak only Spanish, and in Oregon that means that some of the supervisors who speak only English are being laid off or demoted, because in Oregon a crew boss is required to be able to speak the language of the firefighters, even if it’s only one worker on a twenty-person crew.
The state says the rule is necessary for safety reasons. So why not require the workers to speak English? The state has no clear answer on that.
Oh, no! This is terrible! Our forests will burn in the giant tamale-pit of political correctness!
Except, you know, not.
I Googled Oregon’s firefighter requirements for speaking English and retrieved this little nugget. Here is the state’s “unclear answer”:
English is the language of wildland firefighting. It is the national standard. It is spoken in briefings and on two-way radios, and is the language of operating plans, reports and other documents.
Hispanic and Native American contract crews have operated in the west with bilingual leadership since the 1960s.
The number of Hispanic crews in the Northwest has increased markedly in recent years. A count of Spanish surnames on crew rosters suggests that about 85 percent of current contract firefighters are of Hispanic descent. This rough estimate doesn’t indicate how many crew members speak English.
There is no contract requirement that supervisors on contract crews speak any language other than English.
It’s almost like…no, should I say it? Will Ann Althouse get mad? Sigh, I must.
It’s almost like nobody spreading this idiotic rumor did even basic research!
I am evil. As are facts.
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(There’s a reason why I played City of Heroes solo.)
“I am evil. As are facts.”
...at least you don’t have breasts, otherwise you’d really be in for an earful from the soon-to-be-married Miss ‘2-Buck Chuck’ Althouse…