Grrl Power Burns

You really can't make this stuff up.   

When diversity is prized more than competence, unfortunately stuff like this happens. We've been told for years that gender doesn't matter in people being able to do a job. That is, until now, when we're told gender and diversity are the vital parts of doing a job.

The Western Standard: Female firefighters planned burn goes awry in Banff

To say it went "awry" is an understatement.

A prescribed burn highlighted on the agenda of a women’s firefighting conference, held to promote “diversity and inclusion” in a male-dominated field, didn’t go well.

Accidentally setting Banff National Park ablaze wasn’t part of the plan.

The prescribed burn was carried out in Compound Meadows, adjacent to the Banff townsite, by Parks Canada and participants in Canada’s first-ever Women-in-Fire Training Exchange (WTREX).

It raged out of control Wednesday forcing the temporary evacuation of horses from the Banff Light Horse Association and hundreds of area residents and tourists in the Rocky Mountain Resort. 

The conditions that day were actually against doing a prescribed burn, but it was on the agenda, and girl power over environmental conditions and the patriarchy, right?

They also had some non-binary firefighters there for more diversity, which was nice. 

The May 1-12 conference attracted certified firefighters from Canada, the US, Bolivia, and Ecuador to, among other things, combat adversity in a male-dominated profession.

Instead of a nice gender-affirming and adversity-combating controlled prescribed burn, they got a wildfire burning out of control in a National Park.

Even worse, men had to be called in to help put it out:

The calvary was called in to help fight the blaze.

Five helicopters raining down buckets of water, firefighters from both Banff and Canmore, Alberta Wildlife, and RCMP were needed to help Parks Canada and WTREX participants stop the fire from spreading further, control the traffic situation, and help with evacuation efforts.

To make matters even worse than that, when concerned residents saw the smoke and called the Women-in-Fire Training Exchange to ask what was wrong they were told:  

"Nothing, it's fine.", and then silence.