Probe Alleges 'Over-Sexed' Behavior at SC Station

Oct. 1—A sprawling internal affairs investigation alleged an "over-sexed," frat house style environment at a Columbia Fire Department station house where five firefighters were fired earlier this year.

Five Columbia Fire Department employees were fired on May 7 in connection to an internal investigation into fire Station 8, located at 933 Atlas Road. The dismissals were the result of what had been a nearly month-long investigation. Initial documents provided to The State in June alleged a raft of workplace policy violations against the now-dismissed firemen, including conduct unbecoming of city employees, dereliction of duty, horseplay and unsafe activities, insubordination and more.

On June 15, The State filed a Freedom of Information Act request for internal affairs documents related to the Station 8 investigation. Those documents were provided Friday morning, roughly three and a half months after the initial request.

The documents conclude that, in the months preceding the investigation, the first shift at Station 8 had a "substantial leadership failure which has fostered an oversexed culture laden with unacceptable conversation, pranks that far exceed the bounds of professional conduct, and offensive touching."

The investigation found that the conduct might have been occurring for as much as six to eight months before coming to command staff's attention, though the report alleges that station leadership permitted the activities.

"This broken value system appears to have become so pervasive and accepted that many core members of the station (both active and passive participants) were willing to protect it through intentional misstatements, omissions of details and outright refusals to answer questions," the report said.

The situation boiled over in early April, when a firefighter at Station 8 walked off the job. When contacted about why he left, he reportedly replied in a text message that he "couldn't take the sexual crap anymore."

"It's one thing to talk," the firefighter reportedly wrote. "But it's totally another to snatch someone out of their bed and try and rip their shorts off and other stuff. ... I can't sit through another dinner/night of this."

Fire department command staff ultimately conducted 29 interviews in connection with the investigation. As reported by The State in June, the five employees ultimately dismissed were Battalion Chief Christopher Gates, Capt. Brandon Cook, Capt. Jason McIntyre, Fire Engineer Dustin Ailes and Senior Firefighter Patrick Humphries.

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