Montana firefighter says she was fired over racy workout photos on social media: 'It’s just hypocritical'
A Montana firefighter was allegedly fired from her job for posting racy workout photos to her Instagram. According to the Daily Inter Lake, 27-year-old Presley Pritchard formerly worked as a part-time firefighter paramedic with Evergreen Fire Rescue.
However, she has now alleged in a wrongful termination claim with the depart that officials fired her because of her gender and her social media activity.
Aside from her firefighting skills, Pritchard is also a personal trainer and often posts videos of herself training in the gym, snowboarding, or shooting her gun. What's more? She boasts a whopping 140,000 followers on Instagram.
In July 2018, an Evergreen Fire District board member told Pritchard that a "concerned citizen" contacted him about her social media activity.
Ever since the alleged complaint, Pritchard has been reprimanded at least 20 times over her social media posts. Last week, she told VICE how her superiors repeatedly rebuked her over how she looked in uniform, as well as her workout attire in her personal gym.
“It was just ongoing — they would call me in for everything,” she said. “It was just always like walking on eggshells there.”
Pritchard revealed the department issued her men's uniform pants after someone allegedly complained that her standard-issue women’s pants were "too provocative."
“So I was like wow, fine, I’ll wear men’s pants!” she told VICE. “Are you serious? Am I supposed to leave my butt at home?”
The firefighter is seen in a February 2019 Instagram post posing in front of a fire truck in an Evergreen Fire Rescuee tee coupled with tight blue pants.
“My face when someone mentions how I’m ‘provocative’ in professional attire,” she wrote alongside the photo. “If you’re a female in this field, especially an attractive or curvy girl, you’re GOING TO be ridiculed. You’re going to be mocked, made fun of, talked about poorly, judged by looks.”
Pritchard also complained how her male colleagues have posted similar content without consequence.
“It’s just really, really hypocritical,” she told the outlet. “It just sucks, because you see firefighters out here with these sexy firefighter calendars, and if females did that, they would literally be like, beaten to death. Everyone would call them sluts and whores. But it’s OK for guys, just like how it was OK for every guy in my department to have photos of themselves at training.”
Pritchard was eventually relieved of her duties last August because she left photos of herself in uniform and other work-related content online after being ordered to take them down within five days.
She explained that she didn't remove the content at the advice of a lawyer, who said she didn't have to comply because the department did not have a "standard social media policy" on paper.
Speaking to the Daily Inter Lake in late December, Evergreen Fire Chief Craig Williams claimed the district employs a “diverse staff … of which nearly half are female” and has “established policies and procedures to address complaints.”
“The District takes very seriously all allegations it receives concerning workplace conditions,” Williams said in a statement. “While the complainant never made or reported any allegations to the district while she was employed, the district hired an independent investigator to complete an investigation concerning the validity of the complaints. After a thorough investigation, no evidence was found to support any of the complainant’s allegations.”
Nonetheless, a defiant Pritchard is now preparing for her flight paramedic test. She hopes that her journey inspires other women facing similar issues at their workplace.
“It’s really important that somebody stands up for it and speaks out, and I don’t really care!” she told VICE. “I’m like, say whatever you want, I have thick skin. Others don’t.”