The results of an investigation into the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department were released Tuesday morning.
The investigation began last month after Kathleen Stanley resigned from her post as women program officer.
In a blistering letter to fire chief Richard Bowers, she wrote that the fire department leadership tolerated and even defended sexual harassment and retaliation.
Chief Bowers had appointed Stanley to that position only a year before. She told us then that she was hopeful. That hope vanished and she said she found the term Zero Tolerance to be hollow.
The issues came to the surface after the suicide of firefighter Nicole Mittendorf in 2016. She had been harassed and bullied in vicious sexually-explicit posts on a community web forum.
Last Month, after we reported on Stanley's allegations, and resignation, Nicole Mittendorf's husband, Steve Mittendorf, a state trooper, called for Chief Bowers to resign.
Bowers has since announced he will retired at the end of April.
This investigation shows some things things have improved, but that a number of women firefighters still report problems.
On Tuesday, the Fairfax County Executive discussed his plans to do to make the fire department welcoming to all of its employees.
