ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. --
Is it boys being boys or bad behavior in a firehouse? Two Orange County firefighters have been fired for making prank phone calls. Those calls were made to the firefighters' female boss, a lieutenant, and they were sexual and crude.
The same lieutenant also claimed there were dirty pictures of women posted inside the firehouse and she felt like some of the firefighters were targeting her.
The two Orange County firefighters were fired two weeks ago for making dirty phone calls to their boss, Lt. Gina Yeager. She was on duty at Firehouse Station 52 when she said she received harassing phone calls at the station. She said the caller seemed drunk and was disguising his voice. He made several calls to the fire station and made crude remarks.
I'm paying a $1.99 a minute for sex talk and you better start talking dirty to me, one of the callers said.
Investigators determined firefighter Anthony Devereaux and Pete Grossmueller either made the calls or participated in them. Both firefighters denied making the calls.
Have you ever used crude or vulgar language over the telephone while contacting or calling station 52?" assistant fire chief Vince Preston asked Devereaux.
No, he replied.
We do not tolerate or will tolerated in the future anyone who says something or does something inappropriate and harasses one of our employees, Preston said.
The lieutenant also claimed pornographic pictures and images of heavier set women with harpoons drawn on them were posted throughout the station. Management said it's concerned about the behavior and is now looking to see if changes need to be made.
Is it part of a vacuum or is it a larger issue at the station? Preston questioned.
The two firefighters who were fired are appealing their terminations. Lt. Gina Yeager declined WFTVs request for an interview.
The investigator was not able to verify if there were any inappropriate pictures in the fire house.
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