Fire Station Sex Harassment Probe Expands

The Los Angeles Fire Department has expanded its investigation of sexual harassment at Fire Station 5 in Westchester to include additional allegations uncovered in the probe, according to a department spokesman.

Battalion Chief Dean E. Cathey said two additional captains have been added to an investigative team now composed of six fire captains, a battalion chief, an assistant chief and the department’s sexual harassment counselor.

Cathey declined to discuss what investigators may have uncovered during scores of interviews over the last month. He said the department is waiting until all the charges have been completely investigated before discussing the case.

Fire Chief Donald O. Manning ordered the investigation when reports surfaced that male firefighters at Station 5, at 6621 Manchester Ave., had viewed sexually explicit films. Allegations that a female probationary firefighter had been sexually harassed were disclosed in the subsequent inquiry.

Sources who requested anonymity said the woman was lifting weights in an upstairs dorm when a veteran fireman--wearing no clothes--repeatedly entered the room until she halted her workout and went downstairs.

She was transferred to another station after the investigation began, but, according to sources, she continued to receive harassing telephone calls and eventually took time off from duty because of stress.

Residents living near Station 5 also have been questioned by investigators, it was learned, reportedly about a woman who lived nearby and who sometimes visited the firehouse.