By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — The FDNY has transferred 17 firefighters out of a pair of Bronx firehouses where videos of probationary firefighters being hazed were recorded, the Daily News has learned.
According to department orders released Monday, the FDNY has removed nine members of Engine 38/Ladder 51 on Eastchester Road near Williamsbridge and eight members from Engine 43/Ladder 59 on Sedgewick Ave. in Morris Heights. They have been reassigned to stationhouses scattered throughout the city.
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Videos of the hazing of probationary firefighters that made the rounds on social media late last week had been tracked to these two stations, FDNY sources said.
In one of the videos, three firefighters were recorded doing pushups face-first into cakes laid out in front of them on the floor as an off-camera voice counts up to 20.
The cake video was recorded at Engine 38/Ladder 51, sources said.
The second video, which appears to show three uniformed rookie firefighters lined up against the wall of a paddleball court awkwardly shaking hands and hugging two naked men wearing only shoes, involved members of Engine 43/Ladder 59, sources said.
The videos were recorded just hours after 344 probationary firefighters graduated the FDNY Fire Academy on Thursday.
Each FDNY engine and ladder company has five firefighters assigned to it per shift. It was not immediately clear who is going to replace the firefighters at these stations.
An FDNY spokeswoman said Sunday that the department “immediately launched an investigation” once the videos surfaced.
“The FDNY has a zero-tolerance policy against hazing,” the spokeswoman said. “Some members have already been suspended, and further action will be taken as the investigation progresses. Hazing of any kind will never be tolerated.”
The FDNY did not immediately return an email about Monday’s transfers.
When reached, attorney Peter Gleason, who has represented dozens of FDNY members in lawsuits against the department, found it fishy none of the firefighters’ supervisors appear to have been transferred or disciplined.
“There is a clear breakdown in communications from the top down that this type of behavior has no place in the FDNY,” said Gleason. “Regrettably, FDNY brass will scapegoat these underlings without self-reflection on how the lack of leadership created this situation.”
“If hazing at the level is acceptable then how can junior members of the department decipher what appropriate behavior is?” Gleason added.
The FDNY code of conduct explicitly forbids hazing.
An anti-hazing policy was adopted in 2013. In 2017, the FDNY launched an investigation into whether there was a “culture of hazing” in the department.
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