Investigation alleges raucous, ‘over-sexed’ behavior at Columbia firehouse
A sprawling internal affairs investigation alleged an “over-sexed,” frat house style environment at a Columbia Fire Department station house where five firefighters were fired earlier this year.
The employees were fired on May 7 in connection to an internal investigation into fire Station 8, located at 933 Atlas Road. The dismissals were the result of what had been a nearly month-long investigation. Initial documents provided to The State in June alleged a raft of workplace policy violations against the now-dismissed firemen, including conduct unbecoming of city employees, dereliction of duty, horseplay and unsafe activities, insubordination and more.
On June 15, The State filed a Freedom of Information Act request for internal affairs documents related to the Station 8 investigation. Those documents were provided Friday morning.
The documents conclude that, in the months preceding the investigation, the first shift at Station 8 had a “substantial leadership failure which has fostered an over-sexed culture laden with unacceptable conversation, pranks that far exceed the bounds of professional conduct, and offensive touching.”
The investigation found that the conduct might have been occurring for as much as six to eight months before coming to command staff’s attention, though the report alleges that station leadership permitted the activities.
The full investigative report details a broad range of alleged misbehavior at the firehouse, including nudity in hallways and common areas outside of bedrooms and bathrooms, butt-slapping in the shower, wedgies, pulling people’s pants down and an alleged “overwhelming infatuation” with comparing the size of male genitalia. Command staff investigators said they also saw a short video of a nude firefighter in the station bay being sprayed with a water hose.
And the internal affairs probe also alleges a swath of other behavior, not all of which was tinged with sexual harassment. It talks of initiations in which water buckets were poured on firefighters, and one where flour is poured on a firefighter. There were allegations of “glitter initiations” in which glitter was put in firefighters’ beds, gloves and fire boots. It alleges wrestling in virtually every room of the station house, including “wrestling in limited clothing and, perhaps, naked.”
There are allegations of rough horseplay that knocked over furniture and lockers and, in one instance “most likely damaged all of the dining room chairs and recliners and blinds in the day room.” The report said there also was “chair tipping,” where a chairs were hastily pulled out from under people to make them fall, along with a modified version of the prank where someone subsequently straddles the face of the person who falls.
“This broken value system appears to have become so pervasive and accepted that many core members of the station (both active and passive participants) were willing to protect it through intentional misstatements, omissions of details and outright refusals to answer questions,” the report said.
The situation boiled over in early April, when a firefighter at Station 8 walked off the job. When contacted about why he left, he reportedly replied in a text message that he “couldn’t take the sexual crap anymore.”
“It’s one thing to talk,” the firefighter reportedly wrote. “But it’s totally another to snatch someone out of their bed and try and rip their shorts off and other stuff. ... I can’t sit through another dinner/night of this.”
Jason Reynolds, an attorney for the victim, declined expansive comment on the matter, saying that the information in the investigative file speaks for itself.
Fire department command staff ultimately conducted 29 interviews during the investigation. As reported by The State in June, the five employees ultimately dismissed were Battalion Chief Christopher Gates, Capt. Brandon Cook, Capt. Jason McIntyre, Fire Engineer Dustin Ailes and Senior Firefighter Patrick Humphries.
Aside from the firefighter who resigned and touched off the investigation, the internal affairs report said a handful of other Station 8 employees subsequently requested to transfer out of the station because of the alleged prank-filled, toxic environment.
At-large City Councilman Howard Duvall said the council was briefed on the investigation back in the spring, noting that many of the details were too spicy for “polite company.”
“I think the council was shocked that the behavior was tolerated for some period of time by higher ranking officers,” Duvall said. “Certainly we expect better discipline in our fire stations. ... We just can’t tolerate that kind of thing.”
The at-large councilman said the council has not received any further reports of inappropriate activity at Station 8 or other firehouses.
Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said he couldn’t comment on the investigation Friday afternoon, saying he didn’t know what “legal ramifications” may or may not be forthcoming in the matter.
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 1:39 PM.
