The poster was discovered last month at Fire Station No. 8 on Bluxome Street in the city’s South Beach neighborhood. It mocked several female firefighters and one male firefighter who were on leave.
The poster included several messages. At the top, it read, “Stress…it’s an epidemic!” In the middle, it said, “California state hospital for the criminally insane. Restricted area. No weapons beyond this point,” with an arrow pointing to three people on the right. A small paper at the bottom said, “Station 8 INVESTIGATES.” The poster also mocked one firefighter for having an allergy to the flame-retardant protective clothing firefighters wear, known as turnout gear.
It is unclear who made the poster. Fire officials are investigating. Officials spotted the poster in a common area during a recent visit to the station, a department official said.
The fallout included a mass shakeup. Fire officials reassigned four lieutenants, two captains and three battalion chiefs away from Station No. 8, the department official said. The moves amount to a mass shakeup at the station.
San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen quickly told a group of female firefighters that he felt the poster was “inappropriate and derogatory.” Crispen, who took the helm at the department in January of last year, issued a memo to the department warning against any workplace harassment.
“Upholding a respectful and professional environment is essential to the safety, trust, and integrity of our department,” Crispen wrote earlier this month.
The department said publicly that it took corrective action after it “became aware of potentially inappropriate material posted at a workplace.” “The San Francisco Fire Department is committed to promoting and maintaining a safe and healthy work environment where every individual is treated with civility, dignity, and respect,” the department said.
The investigation into who created the poster continues, and the reassignments have removed nine officers from Station No. 8 as the department confronts the fallout.