THE first women recruits to Hong Kong's professional fire-fighting service will qualify this week after an exhausting 26 weeks of training.
Kwok Lai-shan, 25, and Anna Wu Lai-fong, 24, were the only women selected to join the brigade out of 61 female applicants.
The Fire Services Department decided to allow women to sign up because of a chronic shortage of male applicants.
However, most female applicants failed to measure up to the strict height criteria. They have to be at least 168 centimetres tall, have perfect eyesight, weigh at least 50 kilograms and have minimum Form Five education.
Ms Kwok stands at 1.7 metres and Ms Wu is 1.77 metres.
Yesterday, Ms Kwok said she never believed she could have been capable of running while wearing a heavy woollen uniform and rubber boots and carrying a 17.5 kg breathing apparatus - which is nearly one-third her weight.
