Several D.C. firefighters have been re-assigned as internal affairs investigators look into allegations of drunken misconduct at a Columbia Heights firehouse, fire officials said.
A complaint was filed last month and the department’s internal affairs unit is still looking into the accusations, D.C. fire spokesman Pete Piringer said Thursday.
A photo has surfaced showing the backside of a naked man standing before a industrial oven of what appears to be the kitchen at a firehouse in Columbia Heights.
“We don’t tolerate that kind of behavior,” said D.C. fire spokesman Pete Piringer. “It’s unacceptable behavior on or off duty.”
Piringer said he could not provide any more details about the allegations because it’s an ongoing investigation.
According to sources, the alleged incident occurred after a July 7 retirement dinner for an outgoing deputy fire chief at the fire station in the 3400 block of 14th Street NW known among firefighters as the “House of Flame.” The celebration continued and some of the party goers went on to neighborhood bars.
Some of the people who had been drinking at the bars returned to the firehouse at least one of them stripped down to the nude, sources said.
Some of the firefighters have been reassigned, but Piringer said he did not know whether they were moved because of the investigation.
“Disciplinary action can be expected” if the allegations turn out to be true, Piringer said.
Later in a statement released to the rest of the media, Piringer said that the investigation has not substantiated allegations that “high ranking fire chiefs were in attendance and they may have withheld information about the event to prevent embarrassment.”
