July 17--A Columbus firefighter is accused of having sex at his fire station with a woman repeatedly over almost two years, and of giving her the access code to the building and letting her ride in fire vehicles on rescue runs -- all against policy.
The situation even required extra police patrols to that fire station, authorities say, after the firefighter said his life was threatened.
Fire Division officials began an investigation in late April after receiving a complaint from the woman's father about her relationship with Marc Cain, a firefighter at Station 17, the Hilltop station on W. Broad Street.
According to officials, the affair began when the woman, now 20, was 18. Cain, who is married, is 48 and has been with the Fire Division for 24 years. He has a clean record, according to files obtained under open-records laws.
The woman alleges that she and Cain had sex in the station's basement and in his room there, including when he was on duty.
Cain denies having had sex with her at the fire station, although he does admit to having had a physical relationship with her and letting her ride in department vehicles in violation of station policy.
"I didn't know what I was getting into, honestly," the woman told investigators in a May interview. "I was 18, I was a virgin. I'd never really had a boyfriend."
Many at the station, including Cain's direct supervisor, Lt. Christopher Kirchner, testified that they were aware of the woman's frequent visits to Cain's bedroom in the fire station, although some said they initially thought she was his daughter.
Cain does have a daughter the same age and met the woman when she and Cain's daughter were acquaintances. According to testimony, Cain began a relationship with her when she was 18 and began working for his tree-cutting business.
Battalion Chief Gerald Birkhimer testified that the woman told him about the relationship in February, although Birkhimer also said his daughter had speculated about a relationship between the woman and Cain back in October. Birkhimer, who was reassigned from the battalion overseeing Station 17 earlier in October, told investigators he took no action in response.
No disciplinary action has been taken against Cain, although he has been temporarily reassigned as the investigation continues, said Battalion Chief Patrick Ferguson, a spokesman for the Fire Division.
Neither Kirchner nor Birkhimer is being investigated, Ferguson said. After frequent visits by another firefighter's husband, Kirchner instituted a policy last year at Station 17 that said guests could be in the building's bedroom area only when escorted by personnel, a rule that Cain violated when he allowed the woman to stay by herself in his room and enter the station with the access code, according to testimony in the files.
Birkhimer and Kirchner testified that they had told Cain in the months before the investigation that the woman wasn't allowed in the sleeping quarters, and at least once Birkhimer reprimanded Cain for allowing the woman to ride on a rescue vehicle.
After Cain told another firefighter that there was a threat on his life over the incident, police began surveillance of the station.
In January, the woman's father confronted Cain after seeing on the family's phone bill that she had talked with Cain for 3,000 minutes in one month.
Calls to Cain were not returned. An attorney for the woman's family said they had no comment.
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