WILTSHIRE Fire Brigade plans to boost its female staff roll fivefold by 2005. Currently, only about two per cent of the 600-plus staff, whether firefighters or support workers, are women.

But that has to increase to 10 per cent by the 2005-6 financial year if Govern-ment equal opportunities targets are to be met.

And according to one senior officer, the all-action image promoted by TV dramas about firefighters isn't helping.

The Wiltshire Service is currently doing all it can to spread the word that firefighting is for all, and not just men.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Eugene Johnson explained: "The targets we are talking about have been around for a little while.

"We are working towards them and as a management team we look at it on a monthly basis."

The brigade's 24 stations across the county currently house 230 full-time firefighters, 320 retained and 75 support staff.

Mr Johnson said: "Currently, about two per cent of our staff are women, and our target for this year is to get that up to four."

In addition, the brigade is also trying to boost the proportion of its staff from ethnic minorities to reflect the proportion of people from ethnic minorities among the public at large.

Mr Johnson concedes that attracting female and ethnic minority recruits is difficult, perhaps because of an underlying public perception that firefighting is a traditionally male and white career.

He said: "One thing is that program-mes such as London's Burning don't give us a lot of help."

He believes that such programmes give the impression that the job is more macho and dangerous than in reality, and that this may be a factor in dissuading women although fire-fighting does involve dangers.

But Mr Johnson added: "We believe that we will make progress by demonstrating awareness, openness and our willingness to recruit from all sections of the community."

Female firefighters were first seen in Britain in the early 1980s, and their numbers have increased only gradually since.