Peddling images of wizened, elderly figures trying to climb ladders, the union tells us a rise in the retirement age to 60 will be a serious threat to public safety. But this is nonsense.
For a start, fire-fighters will be able to continue in service only if they pass a fitness test, as happens in other physically demanding, publicly paid jobs such as the police and the Army, where the retirement age is 60.
Moreover, almost every other fire service in the world sets the retirement threshold at 60. Some have even higher age limits. In Germany, one of the best run, safety-conscious nations on earth, 65 is the retirement age, while in Australia it is 63.
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