WINNIPEG (CP) -- Schoolchildren touring a Winnipeg fire hall were expecting to see a fire safety video and instead got a peek at a few seconds of a Playboy video by mistake.
Fire department spokesman Robin Alford said a firefighter at the No. 5 station on Sargent Avenue was disciplined more than a year ago over the incident.
``A firefighter had brought the video in to bring it to someone else and left it there, and a tour came by and a staff member popped it into the VCR to keep them occupied,'' Alford said. ``We had the individual (who brought the video in) apologize in person to all concerned and appropriate actions were taken.''
The individual was not suspended.
In another incident over the summer, Alford said, the department disciplined a staff member at the Osborne fire hall for having a CD-ROM at work containing sexual content downloaded from websites.
Alford's comments came Tuesday in the wake of allegations that firefighters at the hall, located in the trendy Osborne Village district of south-central Winnipeg, entertained four women one night in July and drove them home in a fire truck. Ten staff were recently suspended over that incident.
In the current investigation, fire officials seized the computer at the Osborne station to search for photos allegedly taken of the women, Alford said.
The firefighters share the hall with paramedics. Paul Nairn, vice-president of the Professional Paramedic Association of Winnipeg, said his union has fielded complaints about firefighters' ``shenanigans'' at the Osborne hall for more than a year, including catcalling and chatting up women on the street.
Nairn said the paramedics have also complained about the firefighters conducting late-night tours of the station and the dorm area.
``Do you think a station tour at three in the morning is appropriate?'' asked Nairn. ``I don't.
``That doesn't happen at any other station . . . It is more of a party atmosphere there. There is more time spent outside than inside.''
Alex Forrest, president of the firefighters' union, disputed Nairn's description of late nights at the Osborne station, saying the hall is lively at night because the neighbourhood, with its restaurants and dense population, is lively at that time.
``I have worked at that station many a time and I have never seen firefighters operate in anything but a professional manner,'' Forrest said. ``That is disgusting that anyone would make a statement like that.''
The firefighters who were working on July 26 are still shaken by false allegations that they were entertaining strippers at the hall, Forrest said.
He accused the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service of overreacting when it put the entire shift on leave after a preliminary investigation.
``Basically, this was a minor discipline issue at best,'' Forrest said.
Of the shift that was suspended, five firefighters and two paramedics returned to work this week. Only three firefighters remain on unpaid leave. (Winnipeg Free Press)
