Cartoon fireman branded sexist

THE fire service has branded the BBC outdated and sexist for using the term ‘fireman’ in a children’s cartoon.

The CBeebies show Hey Duggee showed a hippo riding in a fire engine and claiming to have dressed up as a ‘fireman’. Several posts appeared on a Twitter account for crews in Greenwich, south London.

One read: ‘This term is very outdated and the term “firefighter” is the preferred, respectful…non-gendered term that should be used by all media but especially the BBC.’ The BBC said the episode ‘infers’ the role of ‘fireman’ is gender neutral.