Bigfork Fire lieutenant dismissed following misconduct investigation

The Bigfork Fire District Board of Trustees last week dismissed a lieutenant who faced allegations of misconduct relating to the sexual harassment of female coworkers.

Firefighters and community members filed into the Bigfork High School library Nov. 14 for the special meeting regarding the disciplinary decision for Sean Reffner. 

Chair Dan Elwell asked for a motion, and the room fell silent. Twenty seconds passed before vice chair Andrew Sliter spoke. 

“After reviewing the investigation notes and also reviewing and hearing Mr. Reffner’s statements, I make a motion to terminate employment at Bigfork Fire,” Sliter said.  

The motion passed unanimously, and Reffner quickly left the room. 

Earlier in the month, the fire district held a due process hearing for Reffner, which he requested remain open to the public.  

Reffner was allowed over an hour to present his defense, unhindered by the board. He alleged that other Bigfork Fire employees also use prohibited language on-duty and argued that others were not being investigated for similar comments or actions and that he was being held to a different standard.  

“There is no standard set by anyone in this department,” Reffner said. “I am being targeted by these people for these allegations when they don’t even adhere or hold the same standard that they’re trying to hold me to.” 

Reffner had been placed on administrative suspension on Sept. 18 after officials received 20 allegations of misconduct. Public Information Officer Allen Benitez, a member of the board and the investigator on Reffner’s case, relayed that many fell by the wayside out of lack of evidence or policy relation, leaving six accusations the district considered substantiated.  

“There were a number of allegations that were made that were listed as ‘not sustained’... In some of those cases, while we certainly believe that various bad behaviors may have happened, there wasn’t sufficient detail to move forward,” Benitez explained. “The flip side to that is, some of the bad behavior that we do believe did occur, we don’t have a particular policy against, and we can only charge things that are a policy violation.” 

An example of a dropped allegation included Reffner following a female employee into the women’s bathroom, which was witnessed by another employee but did not directly correlate to a district policy.  

The allegations Reffner was charged with include making sexual comments and hand gestures to a female paramedic student from Flathead Valley Community College, insinuating that a female coworker was performing a sexual act with her fiancé while being dropped off for work, accusing a female paramedic and firefighter of having sex with a male volunteer photographer earlier in her career, and day-to-day obscenities and sexual comments in the workplace.  

Other allegations of misconduct included making threatening comments to members of the department following his suspension.

Throughout his due process defense, Reffner referred to these comments as “firehouse banter.” 

Bigfork Fire Department employed nine full-time firefighters. Of these, three lieutenants, including Reffner, were male. Two of the remaining six were women. Part-time and volunteer staff show a similar 1:3 female to male ratio.  

Benitez asserted that harassment of female crewmembers as “firehouse banter” was not tolerated by the district.  

“It was disturbing, because not only did Mr. Reffner make that claim, but his union representative who is also a full-time firefighter in another department, they used the term that this is ‘normal firehouse banter,’” Benitez said. “If we take that in a historical context, back in the 60s, 70s and 80s when fire departments were hiring Black, Hispanic and Asian firefighters, they were subjected to harassment and racial jokes and general bad behavior. The defense during that time was just, ‘Hey, this is just part of normal firehouse banter,’ and totally unacceptable.  

“Now since we’ve started bringing more female members into the department, and some of those are now subject to harassment and name calling and other bad behavior, we’re seeing that same excuse back again and it’s not tolerated now, and it certainly wasn’t tolerated then.” 

The fire district will hold a department-wide mandatory meeting for more in-depth discussion about department policy and appropriate work behavior. The board plans to review their policies as well. There are also plans to continue investigating claims Reffner made during his hearing concerning other firefighters not adhering to policy, which had not previously been brought to the board’s attention.  

Bigfork firefighters receive a background investigation before hiring, though it is not as extensive as a law enforcement background check, consisting mostly of references from previous employers. They are required to sign a document stating they have read and will adhere to company policies, which prohibit harassment directed toward a person due to gender and using obscene, indecent or derogatory language or gestures while on-duty or in uniform.   

As part of Reffner’s defense, he stated he had not received sexual harassment training, despite the fact that allegations had been made against others in the past. Benitez said that while the board will review this, it does not seem necessary to pay for a sexual harassment training at this time.  

“Our position is, how much more training does an individual need for the basic treatment of people with dignity and respect?” Benitez said.  

Reffner alleged in his hearing that the district violated just cause, including charges not being factually proven, a lack of thorough investigation by the employer, others with the same allegations being treated differently, misconduct caused by inaction by the employer and work history not being taken into consideration. He also accused the department of denying him access to his union and improperly relaying his charges to him.  

Benitez said that the district’s legal counsel is unable to identify any issues with the investigation as it took place.  

“Big picture; the people you should hold to the highest level of performance are the government employees...but people are people, so we have to deal with what we’re given,” Benitez said. “In this case, as soon as management was made aware of the problem, the issues were promptly investigated and addressed. We’ve taken very seriously the accusations that were made and try and do as fair and comprehensive of an investigation as we can.” 

Reffner’s disciplinary action has been a disruption to the department, which has already had difficulty retaining employees due to competitive wages around the valley. However, Benitez noted that the department does have a list of resumes to begin filling a lieutenant position.  

“We want to reassure everybody that our employees certainly have the best interest of the public in mind, and we will do our part to ensure that all of the employees treat each other in the manner that everybody expects,” Benitez said.