Racy YouTube Video Shot At Same Fire Station Linked To Porn Shoot
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An L.A. Fire Department station in Venice that was used last year in an adult film production was the backdrop for a racy promotional video featuring a burlesque-style dancer, authorities reported.
"We're going to have a thorough investigation, get all the facts out, and once we get that, we'll adjudicate it accordingly," LAFD Chief Brian Cummings said at a news conference.
The video "Firehouse Burlesque Hula Hooping" posted on YouTube on Nov. 27 was shot at Fire Station 63 in Venice and features a woman in high heels and short pants gyrating inside a hula hoop in front of a fire engine and a fire pole.
The source behind the video was identified as Hoopnotica, a company located on Abbot Kinney in Venice that manufactures and distributes hoops for "holistic wellness".
"Firehouse Burlesque Hula Hooping" opens with the female dancer dressed in a fireman's suit and hat, twirling a hula hoop around her waist. The video ends with a shot of an unidentified firefighter wearing an LAFD baseball cap and holding a hula hoop over his shoulder.
"The firehouse we just thought would be hot, fun and sexy, so we sent the girls down there to check it out. They asked permission and, as you can see, the guys got involved. It was super fun and innocent," Hoopnotica founder Gabriella Redding said.
Redding said the film was part of a weekly video series shot in the community to encourage people to get involved in hula hooping.
"These are the guys that come save us when we're in trouble and we would never want to do anything to compromise their integrity," Redding said.
Mitchell Englander said he doesn't see anything innocent about firefighters using city property to stage this video.
"If it, in fact, took place on city property, if there were any firefighters involved, they need to be held responsible to the highest degree, because that's not just a reflection of the department, but also of the city of Los Angeles, and it's wrong," Englander said.
The Hoopnotica founder doesn't see anything wrong with what happened.
"It's not like we were pole dancing in the firehouse. We were hula hooping," Redding said.
The sultry video is a reminder of a porn film shot at the same fire station.
The Fire Department launched a probe last October after Station 63 firefighters allegedly allowed trucks to be used as backdrops in pornographic movies.
Officials said a legal loophole in the Los Angeles City Charter prevented the department from disciplining employees for events more than two years in the past.
In the same month, Chief Cummings also faced criticism for his 1988 decision to allow himself and other uniformed firefighters under his command to be photographed with a bikini-clad woman on the Venice boardwalk.
