BILLERICA, Mass. — Four employees of the Billerica Fire Department are on leave during an investigation into sexual misconduct, said the town manager.
"There is a great concern that alleged activities of certain employees within the fire department may compromise the Town's ability to deliver the highest and best level of public safety service," said a statement from Town Manager John Curran.
Curran said there is no evidence safety was compromised, but the four employees are on paid leave pending disciplinary hearings.
Three of the employees are firefighters, and one is a dispatcher.
“There was a great concern that alleged activity of certain employees within the fire dept. may compromise the towns ability to deliver,” Curran said.
Rumors of the misconduct began circulating last summer, then in January Fire Chief Tom Conway brought it to the town manager's attention.
"It was based on, you hear rumors and things of that nature. It started to gel into something more than just rumors," Curran said.
Curran said he also implemented several actions to prevent this in the future:
- Operations assessment of the fire department and management structure
- Reorganization of the fire department to clarify roles
- Management training pertaining to misconduct and disciplinary challenges
- Sexual harassment training for all fire department staff
Curran said that no 911 calls were impacted, and the investigation is far from over. The employees will have disciplinary hearings later in the month.
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