Tas call out to female firefighters

Less than five per cent of Tasmania's professional firefighters are women and it's time to try and improve the gender imbalance, the state's top officer says.

Chief Officer Chris Arnol on Thursday called for applications for the latest recruit course and said he hoped plenty of women put up their hands.

"The TFS already has almost 950 female volunteer firefighters who love the work they do and make a huge contribution to the safety of their communities. But there are only 11 female career firefighters so we need more," said Mr Arnol, who oversees a force of about 250 career firefighters.