District fire academy recruits will spend part of their training time serving drinks and passing out cake at a council member’s ward parties rather than learning how to save lives and fight fires.

D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin has assigned the 32-member recruiting class and its instructors to serve as waiters and hosts at a Holiday Bash on Monday hosted by D.C. Councilman Jim Graham. This comes four months after Rubin ordered the recruits to help with Graham’s 63rd birthday at the Columbia Heights Community Center.