LA firefighters in hot water over use of f(ire tr)uck in porn

Los Angeles firefighters are under investigation by the LAFD for apparently allowing porn producers to use their fire engines (the actual fire engines, not a euphemism for their hubba-hubbas) in an adult film. This follows reports in April that two LA traffic cops from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation appeared in a porno.

In one of the movies, shot at Venice Beach, LAFD Engine 263 is used as the backdrop by an actress performing lewd acts.

“Look at this fire truck,” says porn actress Charley Chase, as she climbs on the engine and repeatedly exposes herself. “Isn’t that nice.”

It appears that a group of firefighters are watching the movie being shot.

“I know them,” one man says on camera in the reality-style porn flick. "I’m a firefighter.”

For several minutes of the movie, the actress appears to have free access to the engine, and asks numerous passersby to fondle her. “Look, I think we have more friends,” she says, as a group of men stop to fondle the actress.

I'll tell you what's a lewd act. That goddamned lousy excuse for dialogue, that's what. Seriously, why do they bother?

More at NBC Los Angeles, and an update here at the LA Times with outrage from the mayor.

The incident in question involves LAFD staff and equipment in Venice, but there's more: a second investigation is under way involving a fire engine from LAFD in Hollywood in another pornographic film.

Today on her blog, the adult actress Charley Chase apologized to the firefighters:

Check it out! I was involved in a scandle… hummmmm who would have thought! hehe

I just want to say that I am soooo sorry to the fire fighters involved. it was not my intentions for any one to get hurt or fired or whatever. I am not sure why news reporters are resorting to porn to make there stories these days, but shit… it was a fun day! The Fire Fighters watched me stroll the beach from a distance, but were NOT involved in us invading the truck. I love how news people bend and twist the stories they report to better suit there point. As I said before… there was no set up to that day at all and I tried everything I could to let that be know. That was almost three years ago and it is crazy stupid that this is a problem now. I have had Fire Chief’s come to my house, reporters contact me, and a strange amount of harassment from them both. There has been all kinds of crazy aftermath from that day and in all actuality it was a brief moment of fun. Video has a way of making time seem longer then it really is and unfortunately, in this case, it is used for the worse. I am excited for it to all blow over… Especially for the fire fighters case. I never got to meet any of those men that day, but I sure do hope they don’t hate me or porn for what happen. Again, I am super sorry to all of them involved and I promise to keep the fun we have in the future our dirty little secret.

You may now mock her typos in the comments.

• [Sebastian Spinczyk]

  ..and once again America proves itself to be a country that desperately needs to get laid. Seriously, America, get laid. One more “Nipplegate” and NO ONE will take you seriously anymore.

  • [knoxblox]

    Some workplaces are not the right places to get laid, though.

    Geez, if anyone should be able to afford their own fire truck, it’s the porn industry.

    • [Sebastian Spinczyk]

      A workplace that isn’t the right place to get laid hasn’t been invented yet. BAZINGA!

      But seriously: Yeah, of course not. And in the (very hypothetical) case that this particular truck wasn’t available to save lives or property due to its, ahem, special role, this would actually warrant some serious outrage.
      But if it was just standing there as a backdrop for some joyous carnal activity caught on film… where’s the fucking (hehe) problem?
      Granted, I’m not aware with all the laws and regulations relating to this case – but firetrucks DO appear in “regular” movies, don’t they?

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        A workplace that isn’t the right place to get laid hasn’t been invented yet.

        Please tell me that you’re not an undertaker.

        • [Sebastian Spinczyk]

          I’m not, but incedentally there’s a great little movie from Denmark called “Nightwatch”. ;-)

• [Huwman]

  I find this much less offensive than the Army renting out taxpayer-funded resources (tanks, etc.) for pro-war Hollywood blockbusters.

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    I absolutely agree with this. But as an LA resident who pays for and depends on these public services, I will also go on record as saying that using city firetrucks for porn is not cool.

    • [Morkl]

      Using city firetrucks for porn is not supposed to be cool. Using city firetrucks for porn is supposed to be hot.

    • [tyger11]

      What about if they got paid to use it as a prop?

      • [Xeni Jardin]

        they didn’t. 

        • [tyger11]

          I figured, but if they had, would you still object?

  • [Cowicide]

    I find this much less offensive than the Army renting out taxpayer-funded resources (tanks, etc.) for pro-war Hollywood blockbusters.

    Amen to that.  Transformers films are the worst military subsidized propaganda of all.  Michael Bay is a chickenhawk and Steven Spielberg should be absolutely ashamed of himself.  I have zero respect for those two chickenhawks wasting our tax dollars that push and promote war and death so they can make millions.  It’s blood money.

    Here’s the gory details:
    http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2009/08/15/saved-draft-your-tax-dollars-at-work-for-michael-bay/

    Priorities.  America lacks them.

    • [robuluz]

      “Priorities.  America lacks them.”

      I disagree. You’ve got them alright, they’re just really, really, really bad.

• [Machinebot]

  If the LAFD hadn’t made a stink about it then no one would have even known, would they? Well apart from the people who viewed the video, which makes me wonder- how did they find out about the video?

• [Layne]

  Nonsense! L.A. oughta use this to help close those budget gaps right up. 

  No pun intended there. 

• [Parker Mason]

  “You may now mock her typos in the comments” = “We’re BoingBoing, and culturally superior to her.”

  • [knoxblox]

    *kulcherally superor

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    it was a joke, smartypants. a joke at pedantic commenters who hang out here, not unlike yourself!

    • [Parker Mason]

      I just want to feel like I’m part of the group.

      • [Xeni Jardin]

        you am.

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      Her language skills don’t seem any worse than the average BB commenter.  I’m pretty sure that Ghandi and Bhudda would agree with me allot.

      • [Teufelaffe]

        I see what you did there.  :)

• [Ian Dutton]

  http://weinterrupt.com/2009/12/canadian-porn-study-shelved-due-to-lack-of-non-viewers/ if you know anyone who doesn’t watch porn please contact the University of Montreal

• [Warren_Terra]

  Is the outrage over the inclusion of civic resources in an immoral act (or, less prejudicially, an act inconsistent with the city’s desired public image), or in the firefighters misusing civic resources in support of a for-profit commercial venture (from which they themselves benefited only in getting a peep show, I assume)? 
  Actually, I think I could support either complaint: the city deserved an equipment/facilities rental fee, and they deserved the right to veto the shoot on grounds that it wasn’t consistent with their image, especially if any identifiable city logos could be discerned. And I’d also agree with the above comment that the same inconsistency with their public image could also apply with violent movies and other depictions of non-lewd but non-normative behavior.

• [scifijazznik]

  I imagine if Cory wrote the dialogue, it might go something like:

  Look at this fire truck. 

  (long, seductive pause)

  Just look at it.

  • [Brandon Barbee]

    damn! beaten!

• [Bonnie Brewer Cavanaugh]

  She are smart.

• [endymion]

  As a pedantic commenter, let me say: the grammar and punctuation errors on her blog aren’t typos. They’re mistakes. There is a difference. :) 

  • [Aphotic]

    Didn’t you mean “Their is a difference.”?

• [scifijazznik]

  Honestly, we’re taking enough resources away from our first responders, I think renting the hardware out as props in a porno is a great revenue booster.

• [GawainLavers]

  Years ago I was waiting in line outside 1015 Folsom (back when I was young enough to go to such places) and I see a small group of girls stumble out, walk into the street and flag down…a fire engine.  Which stops, picks them up, and drives off.

  All I could think was, “well done.”

• [milkman]

  “LA and Fire Dept get hosed!” – more at 11.

  • [Layne]

    “Porn Actress Handles Hoses at Local Fire Station”

• [funisforassholes]

  @endymion lol. Let’s not get too critical though. It’s like attacking Stephen King for his poor fellatio skills.

  • [Cowicide]

    Oh man, that was funny…  but…

    Maybe Stephen King has fantastic fellatio skills?
    http://www.brookfieldpubliclibrary.info/files/images/stephen-king.png

    • [funisforassholes]

      That’s a man who’s seen The Dark Tower

• [funisforassholes]

  @endymion lol. Let’s not get too critical though. It’s like attacking Stephen King for his poor fellatio skills

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    bahahahah

• [bcsizemo]

  So do cities not rent out things like this for bigger movies?  Do prop houses supply big machinery anywhere in America or other places?

  I can buy the whole it’s for porn thing (well I don’t agree with it, but I understand why people don’t like it).  I can also see the issue if this was done under the table so to speak.  But I’m surprised cities don’t rent out things like this for short periods of time at extremely high prices.  It would still be cheaper than getting one else where (depends on location I suppose.)

  I don’t see much difference between this and tool rental.  Now if the city in question has a no porn policy fine, but if the city can recoup costs by working with a for-profit industry I don’t have a problem with it.

  • [Sunny Jim]

    You know, bcsizemo, they could even list it under tool rental.

  • [snusles]

    Tool rental.  Meh he he.

  • [GlenBlank]

    Do prop houses supply big machinery anywhere in America or other places?

    Oh, sure.  Police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, buses, trolleys – Google “movie vehicle rentals” for lots of examples.  Right now, there’s a whole fleet of Gotham City police cars sitting in a vacant lot near downtown LA. :-)

    It’s not just LA, though.  There are prop-vehicle rental agencies all over the world.  Some own their own stock, some network with collectors who rent out their vehicles (and often hire on as drivers).  If you’re in England and need a pink 1959 Cadillac stretch limousine, I know where to hire one. :-)

    • [penguinchris]

      I went to the Toronto International Film Festival a few years ago, and they were filming for The Incredible Hulk (or one of the Hulk movies, not sure which one, I didn’t see either) on Yonge St.

      The film was set in NYC so there were dozens of NYC taxis, police cars, and buses – including exploded ones – in various parking lots along the street. Here are a couple photos I took.

      I’ll have to look up where the Gotham City fleet is in LA for next time I’m up there, would be cool to see :)

      On-topic, does anyone else not find this porn star attractive – at all? And I don’t just mean if you’re gay or a woman. And does anyone else find this porn idea – random guys fondling her at the fire station – similarly unattractive? Whatever floats your boat, I guess :)

      • [juepucta]

        Penguinchris, check this out: http://torontoist.com/2008/11/reel_toronto_the_incredible_hulk/

        Torontoist has a ‘section’ dedicated to all the movies where Toronto plays some place else. It’s amusing to see how easily one’s deceived. The link above is for the Hulk movie you mention but use the tag to check out their archives. Some crappy/awesome Steven Seagal stuff but also X-Men, Scott Pilgrim, Blues Brothers… Undercover Brother, Blues Brothers 2000…

        -G.

        • [Instaloans 810]

           Didn’t Scott Pilgrim actually take place in Toronto?

        • [juepucta]

          You’re absolutely right. I brain farted.

          Having said that, there’s a joke in the movie about a movie being shot in TO (Casa Loma) pretending to be somewhere else.

          But you are correct, sir.

          -G.

• [Andre D’Elena]

  Look, I think this is from the 90s?  Or maybe this exact same thing happened to “Seymour and Shane” 10 to 15 years ago??  BTW, best comment re: closing the budget gap, LOL!!

• [RJ]

  I’ll tell you what’s a lewd act. That goddamned lousy excuse for dialogue, that’s what. Seriously, why do they bother?

  I was going to say something about Miss Chase’s skills set being more tightly focused on another form of communication (pardon the expression), but I believe her blog entry said all that needed to be said about the matter.

  • [Warren_Terra]

    I believe you meant to say that while she has apparently won many awards for her acting, sparkling conversation was not the form of intercourse that distinguished her performances.

    • [RJ]

      Nicely put.

    • [Aphotic]

      Your locution are confusing

• [peregrinus]

  I’m not so sure she deserves mockery.  She seems to have won a lot of awards.

  Richard Scarry’s “A day at the fire station” could have been soooo different with this kind of input.

• [Andre D’Elena]

  http://mobile.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/07/12/seymore/index.html
  “Glasser had his first big hit when he hooked up with Shane, one of several now ex-girlfriend costars. In his mind, they were the “Burns and Allen of porn.” Together they entered the porn pantheon in 1994 with “Seymore and Shane: Playing With Fire,” in which Shane engaged in her fireman tryst. After the movie’s release, the city of Elmont, N.Y., filed suit, asking $172 million in reparations for the indignity of having its fireman debauched, its firehouse converted into a porn set and its station emblem displayed on-screen.”

• [Jellodyne]

  OMG, no. “The Burns and Allen of porn.” My brain just said good night, Gracie. I suppose it might be better if my mental image of George Burns wasn’t “Oh, God” era.

• [_Username]

   Charley Chase :
  “I never got to meet any of those men that day, but I sure do hope they don’t hate me or porn for what happen”  All I can say about this hose hungry hoe is… fap fap fap

  • [Guest]

    …..nice.

• [Ed Glaser]

  No. “Official” fire suppression equipment, paramedic ambulances, or “other” first responder equipment; are “generally NOT used”, when filming BLOCKBUSTER movies… Unless, the studio has “made an official request” of the City agency; to do so… Then, “those units” are “placed OUT OF SERVICE” and, USED; for a FEE… paid, into the City’s General Fund… similar, to “product” placement in films and t v shows. What’s “generally” done, is: “mockup” equipment, or “vehicle rental” units; that have been “decommissioned” and “officially retired” from ACTIVE DUTY, (and PRIVATELY OWNED) or, “Volunteer Fire Department first responder and suppression units… with “simulated” magnetic signage, are used! 
    

  • [Sebastian Spinczyk]

    Are you THE Ed Glaser? If so, please imagine me screaming like a little girl, coz I’m quite the fan of your work :-D

    Anyway, thanks for the information. In this case, I guess there actually is a cause for concern, as silly as it might be. Still, I don’t see why the porn angle is so important.

• [The Ouroborus]

  Good grief, relax. It’s just sex.

• [Chang Terhune]

  Is a scandle like an escadale?  Because if she’s involved I want one mucho gusto!!! (my apologies to proper Espanol speakers)

• [Eark_the_Bunny]

  Technically speaking the piece of fire apparatus pictured above is a Fire Engine, not a fire truck.  There is a difference, Engines have pumps, water tanks and hose while the truck has a very big aerial ladder and rescue gear.

• [Pag]

  “I love how news people bend and twist” “I have had Fire Chief’s come to my house” “There has been all kinds of crazy aftermath from that day” “I am excited for it to all blow over” “I promise to keep the fun we have in the future our dirty little secret.”

  I bet she writes her own dialog. She has a natural talent for innuendo, if not grammar.

  • [Benjamin Novakow]

    I feel somewhat guilty that I had expected something less coherent.

• [Cameron Postelwait]

  i believe the correct euphemism for a male yoohoo is fireman, not fire truck.

• [C W]

  Even aside from the bullshit moralizing, she sounds contrite. Why focus on her?

• [MooseDesign]

  I think the real issue was the waste involved. Pulling the hose out of the rear of the truck and just spraying it all over the place rather than leaving it in place is just gratuitous and should be condemned.

• [bruckelsprout]

  “I sure do hope they don’t hate me or porn for what happen.”

  Somehow, I doubt this will adversely affect anyone’s outlook on porn.

• [Teller]

  We’re overlooking the really amazing thing: they used a fire truck as a prop for porn! Someone had to login to their noggin for that one. Did they think to put her in a fire hat and suspenders? Hope so.

  BUT – I really enjoyed reading her message. Sincere and sweet. Nice person.

  • [Cowicide]

    BUT – I really enjoyed reading her message. Sincere and sweet. Nice person.

    Teller?  Are you trying to get laid?

    • [Teller]

      Cow, hang on…I’m ordering some Baby Phat Clothing.
      Crap.

• [thatbob]

  I’m about as pro-porn and pro-sex as you can get, and there’s a part of me that wouldn’t mind LA supporting their local “industry” by leasing equipment and facilities through some safe and gloriously bureaucratic channels.  BUT…

  A very serious issue here that none of you have touched upon is that a fire station is a municipal government *workplace*, and the municipal employees who work there have a federal right not to be subjected to a hostile work environment.  From wikipedia:

  “hostile environment sexual harassment refers to a situation where employees
  in a workplace are subject to a pattern of exposure to unwanted sexual
  behavior from persons other than an employee’s direct supervisor where
  supervisors or managers take no steps to discourage or discontinue such
  behavior.”

  Basically, if the supervisors DON’T step in, make inquiries, and knock some skulls around, the municipality opens itself to a huge and very legitimate sexual harassment liability.

  • [Cowicide]

    I’m about as pro-porn and pro-sex as you can get

    You should run for President on that platform.

• [Michael Crumpton]

  Banksters loot our pensions and real estate values plummet and the media snoozes. Politicians decide to give tax breaks to the rich instead of jobs programs for the suffering 99% and the media yawns, but the slightest hint of T&A and the media is wide awake and all over it.
  Just plain pathetic.

• [Chauncey Scott]

  Firefighters, find it hot and leave it wet.

  I never get to drop that line, until now.

• [bklynchris]

  I prefer (laugh harder) your term dongage, rather than hubba-hubbas.

• [Brandon Barbee]

  “Look at this fire truck,” says porn actress Charley Chase, as she
  climbs on the engine and repeatedly exposes herself. “Isn’t that nice. just look at it”

• [John Ohno]

  Sasha Grey would never have let this happen. She’s the thinking man’s porn star.

• [cjporkchop]

  Every time I drive past L.A. County’s Fire Station 69, I wonder if there’s ever been a porn incorporating that theme.

• [CharredBarn]

  How many poles does she slide down in this video, I wonder.

• [futnuh]

  Mom?

• [R. Scott LaMorte]

  Look at that firetruck! There’s no way it’s over 18 years old. 

• [Hanglyman]

  D+. You can do better than this. See me after class.

• [10brooks]

  Wait.. what is “hubba hubba” a euphemism for?

• [dragonfrog]

  Seems to me kind of like those obnoxious ads that cover the windows of city buses, so you can’t see the street signs out the window to know where your stop is, and generally get a headache from looking outside – they so reduce the utility of the bus that, by rights, the advertiser ought to be paying the full cost of operating the bus as long as the ad is up, including fare being free on those buses.

  So, I see the issue less as the fact that the fire engine was used for porn, more that the porn producers almost certainly got it way too cheaply.

• [l337n00b]

  Her version of events: She and her crew were wandering outside looking for a place to shoot some public nudity with fondling for random passersby and the fire truck was just there.  The firefighters who owned the truck noticed but decided not to intervene.

  If this is accurate then I think this is much ado about nothing.  Obviously it was inappropriate, and those involved probably deserve a talking to from their employer.  But when people find themselves in extremely unusual situations, they usually don’t know what they should do about them.  Usually if i said that I would be talking about life or death emergencies, but someone deciding to use your workplace as an impromptu porn movie set is far enough out there that your normal experience of life didn’t prepare you for it.  Honestly, the firefighters can promise not to let it happen again knowing full well that odds are extremely high it just never would have happened again anyway.

  If the firefighters took an under-the-table bribe then more serious disciplinary action is in order.

• [u62]

  I was doing some (uhm) “research” to find the primary source. [Hey-- I do live in Venice and want to see where the fire truck was parked]

  I couldn’t find it, but did find a NSFW link that shows the actress is in another video with someone in uniform (not sure if he is an actor, or not)
  http://aip.brazzers.com/139/?t=8&nats=NDM4OTU4OjM6NTE,0,0,0,95131

  Also, I have been unsuccessful — is the video still online?

• [Rob McMinn]

  Is it wrong that this is the only comment thread on BoingBoing I’ve read in an absolute age?

• [jeremy slawson]

  A small random deviation from lawer mediated contractual transactions gets on the web and the whole planet has to pass judgement on it. I’m sad that everthing that happens in life is automatically global news however rare its occurance – authority needs to take a step back and show some backbone – this event should have been dealt with by a statement that the people involved had been reminded of their responsibilites and that the matter was now closed as far as they were concerned. If people in authority cannot demonstrate a sense of proportion we will gradually drift into a society that Winston Smith would recognise as his own. This is an important story not because of the error that the public servants may have made but because of the unpleasantly disproportionate reaction to it.

• [Palomino]

  Has anyone here SEEN the FULL video? I can’t and won’t make allegations of what “might have happened”. 

  She is right though, a simple 5 minute romp on the truck could be manipulated to look like 20 minutes,depending on how many cameras there were, which offers multiple perspectives. 

  Or maybe the fire department was there, in case she passed out from V.D.

• [Michael W.]

  Porn stars come and go so quickly here. I had to make a preliminary review of her body of work. The rumors are true: this girl can suck the chrome from a trailer hitch. Her powers are strong. This must be taken into account.