ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FALLS CHURCH
SOURCE: Associated Press
The chief of the city's Volunteer Fire Department was suspended for 90 days after he allowed a woman to have racy photographs taken of herself in a city fire station.
Walt McGraw Jr. said Wednesday he allowed the fiancee of one of the firefighters to pose in front of fire equipment on Friday. The woman planned to give the photos to her future husband as a Christmas gift.
``There was nothing lewd or crude about it,'' McGraw said in a telephone interview. ``She had several outfits. I know in one she was going to wrap a large flag around her like it was a beach towel.''
He said if there had been ``any indication that this was going to be drawn so out of proportion, that it would have been questionable by the public, I would have said, `no.'''
Arlington Deputy Chief George O. Lyon said he told McGraw ahead of time he did not like the idea.
``It was just totally inappropriate, as far as I am concerned, and something we would never allow in a county fire station,'' Lyon said.
The county sends personnel to the fire station under an agreement with the city of Falls Church, which has no paid firefighters.
When McGraw insisted upon allowing the photo shoot, Lyon said he made a decision to send the Arlington County firefighters and paramedics who normally work there to a station two miles away.
The public was not placed at risk by the move, but the firefighters ``were really upset about vacating the firehouse,'' said Mike Staples, president of the Arlington firefighters union.
``They had to wrap up their dinner in tinfoil and leave. They ran a lot of calls and didn't get a chance to go back to change,'' Staples said.
Jim O'Dowd, president of the Falls Church Volunteer Fire Department, said he would send a written explanation and apology to the Arlington firefighters assigned to the station.
McGraw said he was suspended because he wasn't authorized to let the woman to use the station, even though no one ordered him to refuse.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB