Firefighters Concerned About Reputation Following Hazing in Texas

WAXAHACHIE — Firefighters are always the good guys.

When trucks roll up to an apartment complex with billowing smoke and flames licking at the eaves, everyone knows chaos is about to be brought under control. Firefighters are there to rescue, confront the danger and comfort victims.

So last week, after seven Ellis County volunteer firefighters were arrested on cringe-worthy charges — an aggravated sexual assault with a chorizo sausage and an attempt to cover up the incident — experts in the field defended the profession while condemning the incident.

They also worried that the deviant details might soil the wholesome image of firefighters in the American consciousness — the modestly macho men on calendars, the heroes who rushed into the doomed twin towers during 9/11.

According to court records, a cellphone video of the alleged attack shows firefighters squealing in impish delight as a young man is sexually humiliated. The Ellis County district attorney said the incident appeared to be a form of hazing.

“We have a lot of that [hazing] in the fire service,” said Jeff Dill, a licensed counselor and fire captain in the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District in northeastern Illinois. “We kinda test the new person to see if they’ll be there in our time of need, support us and have our back. But this is way beyond that. It’s criminal.”

Dill, founder of the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance, said he feared that the alleged assault would expose larger problems in the fire service culture, and that others would begin coming forward with similar stories of abuse. If they do, it may tarnish the profession much as cellphone videos have changed the national narrative about police officers.

“That would be a shame,” Dill said, “because most of these guys are just trying to serve their communities.”

So far, the incident seems confined to a small rural station 30 miles south of Dallas.

The assault is alleged to have occurred in January at the Emergency Services District 6 fire station.

After the incident, court records say, the man crawled into the bathroom and threw up. While he was taking a shower, a firefighter stole his towel and clothes — forcing him to run outside naked to retrieve a pair of shorts from his truck.

Authorities said the victim came forward March 31.

The man remains a volunteer in the department, and officials said he aspires to make firefighting his career.

The Dallas Morning News generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.

Suspects keep mum

Five firefighters face charges of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony with a possible prison term of five years to life: Keith Edward Wisakowsky, 26, of Waxahachie; Casey Joe Stafford, 30, of Midlothian; Preston Thomas Peyrot, 19, of Waxahachie; Alec Chase Miller, 28, of Waxahachie; and Blake Jerold Tucker, 19, of Midlothian. They were arrested Monday.

None of the five responded to email or voice-mail interview requests, and no one answered the door at their homes. Most of the suspects’ Facebook pages and social media accounts were deactivated last week. Family members and many friends of the firefighters also declined to comment.

Based on Ellis County Jail records, it was difficult to determine whether all the suspects have hired attorneys.

The scandal intensified when the fire station’s top brass were arrested Thursday.

Chief Gavin Satterfield, 31, of Waxahachie and Assistant Chief Billy Getzendaner, 34, of Midlothian were accused of tampering with a witness, a first-degree felony.

Court records say the men called a meeting at the station with the victim and five suspects. Getzendaner said he watched the video, laughed about it, and then told the firefighters to destroy the recording.

The assistant chief then allegedly told the men that the act could be considered a sexual assault and that the victim “could do something to us.”

He then looked at the man and said, “But you’re not going to,” according to the affidavit.

The ESD No. 6 board removed both men from their leadership positions Thursday night.

“We are very, very saddened by the fact that people … this board has relied on, the people of this county and this district have relied on, have been accused of something so heinous,” Clay Hinds, an attorney for the ESD No. 6 board, told KXAS-TV (NBC5).

Wisakowsky’s girlfriend, 23-year-old Brittany Leanne Parten of Waxahachie, also was arrested Monday, accused of recording the assault on her cellphone. A conviction could carry a prison sentence of six months to two years in jail.

All of the suspects have bailed out of the Ellis County Jail.

A fuzzy portrait of the suspects emerged from court records, interviews and backgrounds left online.

Miller, a lieutenant at the fire station, was named the 2014 officer of the year. He played football at Coppell High School, and his father, Jim Miller, is the offensive line coach at Waxahachie High School.

Wisakowsky has been a lieutenant at the volunteer fire station since 2011. He is an operations manager for a Waxahachie company that sells chemicals used in crop dusting. Tucker was certified as an EMT in December. Parten is an amateur photographer.

Getzendaner was on the ESD No. 6 governing board until last year. He’s also a licensed paramedic and a firefighter for the Cedar Hill Fire Department, but a city spokesman said he has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

Satterfield, the chief, is a registered emergency medical technician.

His attorney, Joseph R. Gallo, denied Satterfield did anything wrong.

“When criminal cases become high-profile, innocent people are often wrongfully caught up in the process,” Gallo said Thursday. “I now look forward to working with the Ellis County district attorney’s office to clear his name.”

Attorneys John Mallios of Waxahachie and Dan Hagood, a former Dallas County assistant district attorney, will represent Wisakowsky, who in court records is accused of using the sausage to assault the victim.

“Mr. Wisakowsky will plead not guilty, and all our talking will be done in the courtroom,” Mallios said. “We expect him to be exonerated.”

When asked about the video recording of the incident, Mallios responded, “Have you seen it? You’ll hear more about that later.”

Tracey Estrada, 54, of Red Oak said that if you talk to a firefighter very long, you’ll hear the word “brotherhood.”

It’s a term used to describe the family inside fire stations — the camaraderie, loyalty and hierarchy that grow between those who often work 24-hour shifts together and then spend their off hours watching one another’s kids play baseball.

If firefighters at ESD No. 6 were brothers, Estrada was sort of a den mother.

For eight years, her daughter was married to Joshua Lascano, one of the 26 volunteer firefighters at the station.

Even though they divorced a year ago, she said, Lascano still comes by the house several times a week and at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Estrada said, grinning, that her former son-in-law also seems to show up with his firefighter buddies every time there’s barbecue.

Lascano was not one of the men arrested. He declined interview requests.

“We were there when several of these guys did their final training in a burning building, and we watched them graduate,” Estrada said of the ceremony at the Navarro College Fire Academy in Waxahachie. “You wouldn’t think by looking at them that they were capable of something like this.”

Estrada said Lascano told her he received a copy of the video on his cellphone the night of the alleged assault and, with another firefighter, encouraged the victim to go to police.

“Josh always wore his ESD shirt and hat. It was something he was proud of,” Estrada said. “But he hasn’t had them on in two days.”

Uncertain future

The future of the ESD No. 6 fire department is uncertain. Its governing board meets Monday to decide whether to disband the station or to reconstitute the volunteer force.

In the interim, Ellis County Fire Marshal Joe Stewart said he would help make sure calls for service are covered.

“The type of activity that is alleged to have taken place … is unprecedented in my career,” said Stewart, who’s been in fire service 30 years.

The Texas Commission on Fire Protection regulates paid fire service, monitors training levels and oversees the type of equipment used in stations.

Some volunteer fire departments, however, are run by emergency services districts that operate much like city councils and make decisions based on factors such as funding and the local demand for fire services.

Nearly 80 percent of fire departments in Texas are volunteer-based, said Chris Barron, executive director of the State Firefighters’ and Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas.

Paid fire departments have human resources departments that hold sexual harassment training sessions for their staffs, but volunteer fire stations often cannot afford them.

Barron, who is chief of Manchaca Fire/Rescue near Austin, described the apparent failures at ESD No. 6 as shameful.

He said fire departments can be so friendly that people forget their priorities. But when firefighters step out of line, Barron said, it’s the responsibility of the chief and his assistant to impose order.

“They’re the ones that should put down the hammer and stop the shenanigans, so to speak,” Barron said.

Richard Rozier, a former president of the ESD No. 6 board, said he never sensed dysfunction at the station.

“I trusted in the men, the women and the leaders — thought they were serving with the best of intentions to help the public,” he said. “To find out that’s not the case is very disappointing.”

Last week, as news of the arrests spread and public outrage intensified, some media outlets called the arrested men Waxahachie firefighters. Most of the firefighters do live in Waxahachie, but they are not members of the Waxahachie Fire Department, which has 56 certified and paid firefighters.

The two are separate entities funded from different tax bases, said Waxahachie Fire Chief Ricky Boyd, who started his 33-year career as a volunteer.

At his station, he said, rookies may be assigned less glamorous chores — scrubbing urinals, mopping floors, answering the phone — but there are no demeaning assignments.

And pranks that many people say are common in the fire service — painting young firefighters’ nails when they’re sleeping or releasing bees in the stall while they’re showering — are forbidden.

“As far as hazing, we don’t tolerate any level of that,” Boyd said. “The problem is, if you allow any form of hazing, where do you stop it?”

ABOUT THE SUSPECTS

GAVIN SATTERFIELD

Age: 31

Position: Fire chief

Charge: Tampering with a witness

Background: Certified emergency medical technician for several years.

BILLY GETZENDANER

Age: 34

Position: Assistant fire chief

Charge: Tampering with a witness

Background: Paid Cedar Hill firefighter for six years; member of Emergency Services District 6 board before becoming assistant chief for the ESD’s volunteer fire department in early 2014.

KEITH EDWARD WISAKOWSKY

Age: 26