FIREFIGHTERS PROTEST AGAINST NONPROFESSIONAL DUTY|捕蜂捉蛇受傷截肢 消防員赴政院抗議

Is catching snakes and wasps firefighter's job? Many firefighters are urging that they should be relieved of these duties, because they were not trained to catch snakes and remove the hornets' hives. Both the central and local governments have overlooked the firefighters' rights, and some of their lives are at risk while performing such tasks. Therefore, a group of firefighters protested in front of the Executive Yuan on Sep 9th to voice their demand. A group of firefighters threw toy snakes at the Executive Yuan, they were demanding that the government relieve them from catching snakes. They said the local Agriculture Department should assume such duties. Days ago, a Changhua County firefighter was bitten by a cobra, and his finger was amputated in order to save his life. Catching snakes is not an official duty for firefighters. ==YANG SHIH-WEI, Dir. of Nat. Assn for Firefighters' Rights== Regarding the Changhua County Fire Bureau incident, you see that the local Agriculture Department issued an official letter. I feel that it is belittling firefighters, it sounds like they are telling us to protect ourselves and be careful. We are not trained to catch snakes. Firefighters said in recent years duties such as removing wasps' nests and catching snakes, and moving trees had resulted in the deaths of three firefighters and left many injured. In Taiwan, only Taoyuan City has exclusively established a team for removing wasps' nests and catching snakes. ==YU TSUNG-HAN, Firefighter== We, the firefighters are helpless, we are on the verge of death. The central government should not overlook this problem, and local governments should not slack. ==YANG CHING-HSU, Deputy Dir. General of National Fire Agency== In the past two years, duties such as removing wasps' nests and catching snakes have dramatically reduced. Results will gradually show this. We will push changes step by step. ==CHANG YA-LING, Sec-Gen., Nat. Assn for Firefighters' Rights== But we have not seen any proposals for reducing such duties. Firefighters do not feel that these duties are lessening as officials seem to think. The Executive Yuan says it will discuss with local Agriculture Departments about for assuming these responsibilities as new duties. TRANSLATED BY：ANTHONY LIN 一群消防隊員將手中的假蛇丟向行政院，要求政府將捕蜂抓蛇的責任，回歸農業局，因為日前就有彰化縣消防隊員，在捕捉眼鏡蛇過程，被咬傷手指，必須截斷手指才能保命，抓蛇根本不是消防員的法定勤務。 ==消防員工作權益促進會理事 楊適瑋 == 彰化縣消防局這次發生的狀況 你農業局甚至還發一個公文 我覺得這是有點像 在虧我們消防員 發這個公文說 你們要注意好防護 注意好安全 這東西本來就 不是我們消防員有受過訓練 消防員指出，近年來，消防員因為執行非正業的勤務，包括捕蜂、抓蛇，甚至移路樹，就造成3人殉職，受傷的人數，更是不計其數，目前，全台就只有曾經發生新屋大火的桃園市，有設立專門捕峰抓蛇大隊。 ==消防員 余宗翰== 我們消防員是如此的無助 我們離死亡是那麼近 中央不要再默視這個問題 地方不要再擺爛 ==消防署副署長 楊景旭 vs 消防員工作權益促進會秘書長 鄭雅菱 == 這兩年來 我們捕蜂抓蛇這種勤務 已經降低非常多 我想這個成效會慢慢來顯現 這逐步來推動 可是我們並沒有看到 就是減低的方案啊 對於官員澄清，各縣市要求消防員捕蜂抓蛇的勤務，已經逐漸減少，現場許多消防員，卻感受不到，行政院則表示，會決定是否要找農業局溝通進行專責分工。 記者 蔡慧玲 邱福財 台北報導