Fire crew criticised for taking group selfie in front of burning house

2 January 2020, 20:27

The photo was posted to the Detroit Fire Incidents facebook page
The photo was posted to the Detroit Fire Incidents facebook page. Picture: Facebook

By Maddie Goodfellow

A fire department in Michigan has been criticised after firefighters took a selfie in front of a burning house.

The image was posted on the Detroit Fire Incidents Facebook page and captioned: "Crews take a moment to get a selfie on New Years!"

It is believed the photo was taken to mark the retirement of one of the crew members.

Detroit Fire Commissioner Eric Jones called the photo "inappropriate and unprofessional" and has now announced the internal investigation.

In a statement, he said: "There are a lot of ways to celebrate a retirement. Taking a photo in front of a building fire is not one of them."

An explanation was posted on the page shortly after
An explanation was posted on the page shortly after. Picture: Detroit Fire Incidents Page

The photo has now been removed, and in a post, the fire department said: "In regards to the photo that was removed we would like to clear a few things up.

"First of us no one at this page took that photo.

"Second we were asked to post it by a fire fighter for the city of Detroit.

"Third the only reason it was removed is we received messages by guys on the job stating that they had been threatened For the photo being posted.

"To clarify “threatened” meaning threatened by their work I would assume by their context threatened of punitive actionsHappy New Years from us at Detroit Fire Incidents Page."