Mail Online

By Helen Weathers

As sickening allegations emerge of firefighters sharing photos of dead women car crash victims, and a female veteran tells the Mail of bullying and misogyny . . .

Often they are hailed as heroes — our brave emergency frontliners willing to risk life and limb to protect the public. Seen as fearless, they run towards danger with just one aim: to rescue victims and save lives. In tragic outcomes, they are the ones who deal with the traumatic aftermath. that may be the enduring public image of Britain’s firefighters, but this week it was dealt a devastating blow.

Amid allegations that some firefighters at Dorset and Wiltshire fire Service had, on more than one occasion, photographed female car crash victims, police have now launched an investigation.

the pictures, it is claimed, were shared on an informal WhatsApp group, along with degrading comments about the deceased victims.

One anonymous female firefighter told an ITV news investigation this week how colleagues would ‘ make comments about the type of underwear the women [wore] in the car crash’.

She said: ‘ Retrieving the body of someone dead should tear you apart, not make you want to take photos of it, just to joke about it later. Because that’s someone’s loved one, isn’t it? that’s someone’s relative.’

Dorset and Wiltshire fire Service has now commissioned an independent review into what it calls ‘deeply concerning’ allegations of criminal behaviour, which it has referred to the police, and further claims of sexual harassment. the alleged harassment includes reports of female firefighters being sent explicit, unsolicited photographs and messages by male colleagues.

In a statement this week, a spokesperson for Dorset and Wiltshire fire Service said: ‘ We are shocked and appalled to hear these allegations. there is an expectation for our staff to work in line with our code of ethics, which sets out high levels of expected behaviours.’

But the accusations of sexism and misogyny are by no means confined to Dorset and Wiltshire.

In fact, it’s thought to be so widespread that the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the north-West, nazir Afzal OBe, has told the Mail: ‘this isn’t a London problem — it’s a nationwide problem, and I think what we are seeing now is the fire Service’s #Metoo moment.’

the allegations from Dorset and Wiltshire come just two months after Mr Afzal’s damning report on the London fire Brigade (LfB), which found a ‘ toxic’ culture of misogyny and racism in the service.

now, he reveals how he has been ‘inundated’ with messages from female firefighters from all over the country making similar allegations.

‘I’ve received dozens and dozens of emails and messages from firefighters, invariably women, saying: “We are suffering, too,” ’ he told the Mail.

‘there is no fire service in the UK where women feel safe. It’s that bad, and it’s not confined to the capital. they are sharing equally awful experiences of abuse and misogyny.’

Speaking exclusively to the Mail, one of those female firefighters — from central england — described a catalogue of disturbing incidents which she said had plagued her career of more than 20 years.

SHE claimed that as a young probationary recruit, a male trainee had cornered her alone, put his hands around her throat, and threatened: ‘I can do to you whatever I like.’

Later in her career, at one station, she allegedly found a dead animal in her locker and what looked like semen on her bedding. Another time she claims she was locked in a lift and left there as a ‘joke’.

Another time, she alleges, a male colleague borrowed her phone, on some pretext, found an intimate photograph of her and uploaded it to her social media, leaving her feeling upset and humiliated when friends, family and colleagues saw it.

Most disturbingly, she claims she was called into the office after a firefighter took over her breathing apparatus set, to be told the contents had been extremely low. She claims she and her manager believed it may have been deliberately tampered with, as she’d had a few issues on the previous watch.

She alleges the manager said he would investigate only if it happened again. tampering with equipment is, as she says, ‘potentially life-threatening’ for her and the public.

‘there are a handful of male firefighters who I believe genuinely hate women and don’t want them in the service,’ she says. ‘ they do not believe women can do the job and they try to force us out.

‘If you complain to management, the people responsible are spoken to quietly, then the abuse gets worse because you are seen as a snitch. So most people just keep quiet and it all gets swept under the carpet.

‘ If there are no repercussions for bad behaviour, the culture will not change.

‘Many of my male colleagues have been great to work with, very supportive, but there are a few who are just toxic. I’ve been left feeling paranoid and in tears, and at points in my career I’ve wanted to leave. But I refuse to quit because I love my job. I will not be forced out.

‘I went into the fire service to protect the public, but the public have a right to know what working in the fire service can be like.’

Mr Afzal says accounts such as these come as no surprise to him: ‘One woman told me: “there is a fIfO culture” in the fire Service which meant “fit in or f*** off”. Women are routinely told they are expected to conform or leave.

‘the informal WhatsApp groups we heard of in Dorset and Wiltshire this week are commonplace. Men are routinely sharing pictures of women, mocking them and abusing them, and it’s impacting on the public.

‘As people saw in my report, firefighters were going into homes on fire safety visits, taking pictures of women’s underwear and then posting them as a trophy on their WhatsApp groups.

‘It’s endemic and it’s not getting the attention from senior management that it should. It is a sad state of affairs that it is only now coming to light, but we are talking about two or three decades of abuse.’

But, says Mr Afzal, the real issue is about holding people to account. ‘It’s about protecting whistleblowers when they come forward,’ he says. ‘People know what’s going on, but offenders are routinely given a slap on the wrist and a word of warning. It’s not taken seriously.’

South Wales fire Service, it was reported last month, is also facing an independent review into abusive behaviour by some firefighters following allegations that two firemen had been allowed to keep their jobs despite sexually harassing and abusing women.

this week a LfB female firefighter, responding to the allegations in Dorset and Wiltshire, posted on her twitter and facebook feed: ‘the fire services around the UK are rife with misogyny. Male firefighters talking about what underwear female victims are wearing.

‘People don’t care as much when I talk about the abuse I’ve endured as a female firefighter, but how do you

like the thought of someone you love being a victim and being discussed like this?’

Mr Afzal is calling for a Government-backed independent telephone hotline for female firefighters who, he says, have no confidence in their services, to address the problem, and is urging the National Fire Chiefs Council to act with more urgency to tackle the issues.

He also warns that the UK’s Fire Service, whose members this week voted to strike over pay for the first time in 20 years, could face the kind of crises which have engulfed Britain’s police, and led to the resignation of Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick last year.

When Mr Afzal’s report was published last year, London Fire Brigade commissioner, Andy Roe, promised a crackdown on ‘sexist’ or ‘racist’ firefighters.

He had ordered the wide-ranging review after the suicide in August 2020 of trainee firefighter Jaden Francois-Esprit, 21, amid allegations of bullying and racism. He described its findings as ‘horrifying’ and said ‘public confidence and trust’ had been ‘betrayed.’

This week Mr Roe apologised to Jaden’s mother, Linda Francois, saying: ‘LFB let down your son in almost every aspect.’

Mr Afzal said he’d found ‘stomach-turning’ incidents of misogyny, racism and bullying, which included some female staff reporting they’d been groped, beaten or their helmets filled with urine.

Some male firefighters who visited women’s homes for safety checks had reportedly riffled through drawers looking for sex toys and underwear, and posted pictures on WhatsApp, a firefighter told investigators.

The LFB review also referenced a private Instagram account, Hoses and Helmets, which female firefighters complained was a breeding ground for the kind of sexism that underminded them at work.

‘In our focus groups this [Hoses and Helmets] often came up as an example pointing to the real mindset of firefighters,’ the review said.

‘It has to be noted that this is not a LFB handle or run by the LFB, but it has LFB members — some of whom are in senior positions. There were clear examples of sexism and misogyny.’

When the Mail gained access to Hoses and Helmets, we found a stark contrast to the London Fire

Brigade’s official Instagram page, which last year proudly celebrated 40 years of female firefighting.

In one post a picture of two drooling, predatory seals is accompanied by the caption: ‘What the new female recruit sees on her first day when everyone tries to either be her dad or flirt with her.’ The post garnered 225 likes.

In another post there’s a cartoon image of a woman grimacing, terror in her eyes, with the caption: ‘The face you make after failing to extend the 9m ladder on your own after posting an inspirational international woman’s day quote on Instagram.’

A third showed a cartoon pig doing up his flies next to a weeping female pig on a bed with the caption: ‘ When she slept with you because you’re a firefighter but then tell her you’re actually on the drone team.’

And there’s more . . . a cartoon picture of a wet pair of women’s knickers, with the caption: ‘When she finds out you’ve done over 15 years on the job and know your way round a Volvo fire engine’; and a cartoon woman bending over with her bare backside next to a monk captioned: ‘When she finds out you’re USAR [Urban Search And Rescue] trained but you’re waiting for your pager to go off because you’re a hero 24/7, 365.’

According to most recent figures, women make up 8.2 per cent (2,862) of England’s firefighters and in London 425 of LFB’s 4,545 operational staff.

MANyhave risen through the ranks to hold senior positions — not least Dany Cotton, who for two years held the top job as London Fire Brigade Commissioner until 2019.

But as the review revealed, even she was not immune from sexism. She spoke of how, as a middle manager, she once visited a station where all the male firefighters walked away because they didn’t want to work with a woman.

Her 2017 campaign, Firefightingsexism, she added, had resulted in death threats and demands for her to be removed from her job.

Mr Afzal says: ‘It’s a minority of men bringing their prejudices. The answer is for good men to stand up and report those who are offending and for women’s complaints to be taken seriously.’

The UK’s first full-time female firefighter Jo Reynolds, 57, said she was horrified by the findings. She was 17 when she joined Norfolk fire service in 1982, but says today’s women firefighters have a much harder time than she ever did.

‘It sends shivers down my spine. It’s so awful,’ she says. ‘The majority of firefighters are not like that, but there’s enough of them to cause a big problem.

‘I faced sexism and misogyny, but the people I ended up working with were great. It was the old guard who didn’t like change, but I never felt any animosity towards me just because I was a woman.

‘Teasing was part of the culture, but I was never singled out and it happened to all of us. The guys I worked with were fun, but it seems to have gone nuts now.’

Ms Reynolds, who now works for an NGO in Cambodia, is involved with Women in the Fire Service UK which is now working with the National Fire Chiefs Council to create a code of ethics.

‘I try to be patient and say: “These things take time.” But 40 years on it’s still happening or getting worse,’ she says.

With one damning review published and two more under way, could female firefighters working elsewhere in the UK be ready to trigger another?

You are in a state of real confusion and because I fear you could spoil not only your work prospects but also those of a blameless other man, I owe it to you to be frank.

My disquiet comes with that sentence: ‘His behaviour clearly shows he knows I know the truth about him.’ But I suggest his coolness to you shows that he doesn’t fancy you and wants you to be absolutely professional.

I understand why you feel very disappointed. But what worries me is that you could become unkind to yourself and to him, because of that feeling.

The ‘tense atmosphere’ you mention can hardly improve if you continue to hope.

This man you like is senior to you and may simply feel that any friendliness is inappropriate. Isn’t that something any person in a similar situation would have to accept?

It concerns me, for your sake, that you write: ‘ The whole situation is starting to affect my mental health.’ Twenty years ago nobody would have written that about the simple, sad condition of fancying somebody who doesn’t reciprocate.

I’m afraid ‘mental health’ has become rather overused which is a great pity because normal feelings (like sadness, for example) are dramatised and

pathologised. you sound a strong young man who knows what he wants in life — and i suspect you would wisely tell pupils that all of us need to develop resilience to accept disappointments.

here you are, a 27-year-old whose attempts to date through apps have so far failed.

That must sometimes feel very lonely. Now this guy you fancy doesn’t want to know and you’re frustrated and fed up. Those feelings are absolutely normal in both men and women, gay and straight, in such situations.

i want you to realise that, take control and understand that like everybody else, you have to hold yourself in check.

The fact that you are employed at a church school does have a bearing on the matter.

your colleague’s sexuality is his private business. he clearly takes his post very seriously, and even though you are disappointed at his lack of friendliness you need to respect his reasons and keep a distance.

No more compliments! you don’t know him, so what if he is unsure of his sexuality and worried the apps are a mistake?

he could be in a relationship going wrong, which is why he tried the app — and/or a devout person deeply conflicted about the whole issue.

it seems to me you have two choices. one is to take your cue from your colleague and stay cool but try hard to meet people (hopefully a partner) in real life.

The other is to leave the job you love and find another post where you are not distracted. i hope you choose the former.

DR MICHAEL MOSLEY

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