Fire chiefs say they will not condone any inappropriate behaviour after firefighters were disciplined for buying a sex doll as a Secret Santa gift last Christmas.
The incident was investigated and Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service (GFRS) said falling short of its standards is “completely unacceptable”.
It was allegedly left inflated at a fire station for days and an unnamed firefighter said they felt demeaned by the incident.
Gloucestershire County Council’s public protection, parking and libraries cabinet member Dave Norman (Con, Grange and Kingsway) told today’s (July 30) audit and governance committee meeting that he does not condone such types of behaviour.
He added the fact it was public knowledge was of “grave concern”.
Cllr Norman told the council: “I clearly share your view that issues like that that get into the public domain are of grave concern to the principal officer team and to me as the cabinet member.”
Gloucestershire County Councillor David Willingham (LD, St Mark’s and St Peter’s) asked what would be done to improve the culture within the service.
“I understand that firefighters deal with very difficult situations and a lot of people may have quite a dark sense of humour to deal with that,” he said.
“But where the fire service has said this is completely unacceptable, I do think there is a cultural issue that someone needs to look at as wider part of the improvement.
“Quite frankly, this is not the sort of headlines we want for the county council on that service.
“Ultimately, this sounds like a cultural issue, it also sounds like we need to make sure there is adequate mental health provision for our firefighters who deal with horrendous things.
“This suggests to me that there is some more improvement needed.”
Councillor Norman said he will be pushing forward with improvements within the fire service.
“I do not, and never will, condone that type of behaviour that occurred involving a small number of people earlier on in this year.
“I clearly share your view that issues like that that get into the public domain are of grave concern to the principal officer team and to me as the cabinet member.
“What I can confirm is that there has been a full and detailed investigation. The firefighters involved have been disciplined.
“Yes, it is an issue around culture. And you may or not be aware, we are approaching our second Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services inspection where culture has been highlighted, not just in GFRS, but across a lot of fire and rescue services nationwide.
“They are drilling down into the cultural issues affecting fire and rescue services.”
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Gloucestershire Gavin Roberts said he was significantly disappointed about the incident which has been dealt with internally.
He said the fire and rescue service is currently doing a lot of work on unconscious bias training and raising awareness about diversity and equality.
“We will not tolerate inappropriate behaviour at any level within the organisation,” he said.
