Crowd-teasing Jacksonville firefighters may be missing from this year's Southern Women's Show because of a reluctance in department ranks to take part, their union chief said.
The hesitancy comes after six off-duty firefighters were reprimanded for an Aug. 2 benefit that included behavior the department deemed risque, said union President Randy Wyse. The firefighters were wearing the distinctive protective clothing called bunker gear during the private show.
The annual women's show starts Thursday at the Prime Osborn Convention Center and includes two "Firefighter Fashion Shows" Friday and Saturday sponsored by clothing companies.
Titillating routines have been part of past shows.
"If you do the fashion part of it and then they don't come out with the bunker gear, then a lot of people will be upset," Wyse said.
After the firefighters were reprimanded following the August benefit at Whisky River that included male firefighters faking sexual positions and a female with barely covered nipples, Fire Chief Marty Senterfitt said the department was setting boundaries.
Wyse said firefighters didn't like what they were hearing.
"The chief has made a statement that they are never off duty," Wyse said. "The perception is they are out there looking at everything."
The fashion shows, which benefit charities the union supports, are not connected to the department, but Wyse said there has been difficulty recruiting participants.
"I don't want them to do it if they don't want to," he said.
Following the Whisky River show, Senterfitt said bad behavior would not be tolerated. The six were wearing city-issued gear and did not ask permission from the chief.
Part of the reprimand was that the six did not ask for that permission.
Friday, spokesman Tom Francis of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said no one from the union has contacted the fire administration about this year's show.
"It hasn't been brought to our attention," he said.
Copyright 2012 - The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
