Firefighter In Hot Water After Posting Pictures in his Gear on Dating Site Fubar.com

Ernie Hase III, aka Plugger, is being investigated for reportedly uploading photos of himself in his department gear on an online dating site. Hase is a member of Liberty Fire Company No. 2, in Bangor, PA.

He posted pictures on Fubar.com, an online dating site. Some of those pictures include him dressing up in his turnout gear. Those pictures and his profile are no longer accessible without logging in.

In several of the photos, which had been accessible to all, Hase shows himself flexing shirtless in his fire helmet and fire pants. At least two photos showed him with his fire pants’ fly folded open and his underwear exposed. Read more at lehighvalleylive.com

The problem with Hase’s pictures are that they are against department policy.

Read the entire report from LehighValleyLive.com for more details on this story.

Ernie "Plugger" Hase III. Fubar.com photo

Fire Chief Robert Owens offered this written statement on Wednesday:

“The Bangor Fire Department issues personal protective gear for the use of our firefighters during an emergency situation. The gear is to be used only for that purpose and the use of the gear as depicted in these photos is in violation of the policies of the department. This matter will be addressed by a disciplinary committee, as is our standard procedure for such policy violations,”…

“The gear must be with our volunteers so that they can go directly to the incident 24 hours per day and seven days per week. We cannot possibly monitor the actions of our members 24 hours per day and seven days per week as is true for any volunteer organization. We are not aware of any other firefighters who are violating department policies in a similar fashion, but should we learn of any such violations, they too will be subject to the ruling of the disciplinary committee.”

What do you think? Is this behavior acceptable? Should he be disciplined? What should the discipline be?