Tampa Tribune
TAMPA, Fla. — Women firefighters in Tampa’s oldest fire stations will finally get some separation from their male colleagues when sleeping, part of a response by Mayor Bob Buckhorn to claims that women within Tampa Fire Rescue have been subject to sexual harassment.
Work began Tuesday to install six-foot high privacy partitions in 17 fire stations where male and female firefighters share sleeping quarters. The work will cost the city $160,000. The city will also require additional diversity training for firefighters and has reissued a memo spelling out that stations with only male restrooms must make a private bathroom, usually the fire captain’s, available to women firefighters.
The move comes after David Solorzano, a Tampa Fire Rescue personnel chief, retired last month during an investigation into whether he sexually harassed a female firefighter and news reports that female firefighters faced discrimination.
“The particular issue of Mr. Solorzano probably brought to light some of this,” Buckhorn said. “I was not hearing it from our female firefighters. Once we did hear about it, we’re fixing it.”
Installing the privacy partitions will take up to one month, city officials said. They will be fitted in older stations mostly built when the city’s firefighting force was exclusively male. But there is no plan to install women’s restrooms and showers as there are in the department’s six newest stations.
Firefighters work one 24-hour shift every three days and end up eating and sleeping in the same living quarters. Fire Chief Tom Forward last week ordered firefighters to wear shorts and proper undergarments when using dormitories.
Female firefighter Tanja Vidovic, who joined the department in 2008, said she has been asking fire chiefs and unions to push for partitions for the past five years.
“It’s definitely long overdue,” Vidovic said. “This has been an issue since women have been on the job.”
Vidovic said using the captain’s bathroom should only be a temporary solution since most can only be reached by going through the captain’s private quarters.
Women have served in the department for almost four decades. They make up almost 7 percent of the city’s sworn firefighting force, more than the national average of 5.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
City officials said there has only been one allegation of sexual harassment in the past 10 years.
Vidovic said she knows of at least three complaints made by women but that they are often not taken seriously or forwarded to the city’s human resources department.
Women who do complain often face retaliation, Vidovic said. In 2013, she complained about the behavior of her captain. He responded by making her scrub the inside of dumpsters and windows and to use extra bleach, she said. She was about three months pregnant at the time.
“The majority of men are really respectful but there’s always a few that push the line,” Vidovic said. “Some guys out there don’t want women on the job and they make it a point to make it uncomfortable.”
Buckhorn said Tuesday the city will crack down on any sexual harassment or discrimination.
“If it rises to my level, I can promise you we’ll deal with it and we’ll deal with it quickly,” he said.
Women firefighters have also complained they can only get equipment like gloves and masks in male sizes. Vidovic, for example, wears 5 ½ size shoes – size 2 in men’s sizes – and had to buy her own boots because the vendor does not make boots that small.
City Spokewoman Ali Glisson said the vendor the city uses to supply firefighters does provide boots in Vidovic’s size.
Buckhorn on Tuesday emphasized the city will take steps to make sure all firefighters have the equipment they need. In the past two years, the city has placed 65 requests for uniforms and equipment to be customized. No formal complaints have been filed about equipment or uniforms, city officials said.
City Councilwoman Lisa Montelione requested a briefing at Thursday’s City Council meeting. She said she has heard alarming stories from women in the fire department.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Montelione said. “I’m ecstatic about the partitions. I’m surprised that it’s only $160,000 and that something that cost so little took so long to get.”
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