YESTERDAY, IT WAS announced that a fire service in England had gotten rid of the cartoon character Fireman Sam as a mascot over fears he could put women off becoming firefighters.

The Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service said it has struggled to recruit women to become firefighters, and added that the character was outdated and didn’t reflect the message it wanted to achieve. 

Its chief fire officer Les Britzman said: “There’s been a lot of research that says that images that young people have about what careers they want to do are formed when they are about four or five.

“If you are promoting that image we might be stopping people wanting to apply for the fire service 20 years down the line.”

The decision to drop the TV character as a mascot was backed by the Fire Brigades Union, BBC reported.

Executive council member Ben Selby said: “We’re not bothered about Fireman Sam. We’re bothered by the subconscious message the term fireman has created as an issue in our recruitment.”

So, today we’re asking you: Do you agree with calls for Fireman Sam to be renamed, to be more inclusive?