Firefighters typically battle flames, but at a crash scene recently two Albuquerque personnel went up against each other.
An embarrassed Chief David Downey stopped short of admitting it was a fight, but admitted that's what it sounds like, KOAT reported.
A longtime veteran has been placed on administrative duty, while a younger firefighter remains on duty in a station.
“It’s bad. I can’t sugarcoat it. It’s bad. It's embarrassing and unprofessional. I can't say anything else about it. It's not a behavior we would ever condone,” Downey told the reporter.
The chief also wants to when the physical altercation occurred.
“If all of the patient care had not been done and patient care was compromised, that makes a bad situation worse,” Downey said.
Altercations involving responders are rare. “The only time I remember something like this occurring on an incident was almost 15-20 years ago..."