Tag Archives: sexual assault and rape against women firefighters

How long with this s*it go on?

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer NJ fire chief sexually harassed teen volunteer: lawsuit I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. About sexual harassment in the fire service. And if you are male firefighter—of any rank—why aren’t you as well? As I’ve written in this space many times, male firefighters could stop sexual harassment, sexual assaults, and all ...

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Men could stop sexual harassment in the fire service tomorrow

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer Update: I’ve updated this post because I was moved by the courageous post I read today from a fire service colleague, Angie Hughes, Captain (Ret.) Baltimore County (Mary.) Fire Department. Or today, if it’s early enough in the day. Men in the fire service need to “step up” and call out sexist and misogynistic ...

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Why aren’t fire departments getting better at inclusion?

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer So, I was on the road headed towards FDIC 2019 in Indianapolis and some random thoughts began running through my head concerning fire service organizations and sexual harassment and inclusion and how are these things all intertwined. And how does the fire service work to eliminate that entanglement? Former U.S. Forest Service Battalion Chief ...

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Rape in the fire service: A story revisited

Sexual assaults and rape being perpetrated on our sister firefighters by their colleagues–and in many cases their leaders–isn’t a women’s issue that they can solve.  It’s a failure of fire department leadership and that means it’s up to the men who occupy the majority of leadership positions in the fire service to eradicate this blight from our profession. 

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