The Los Angeles Fire Department Professional Standards Division has launched an investigation into a burlesque hula hoop video featuring a semi-clad woman dancing at a fire station in Venice last week, according to an LAFD spokesperson.
The video shows was shot at LAFD Fire Station 63, located at 1930 Shell Ave. by Venice-based hula hoop company Hoopnotica. It shows a woman’s bare legs slipping into a firefighter’s turnout gear and then hula hooping in jean shorts and red heels next to the fire truck.
"We're going to have a thorough investigation. We'll get all the facts out, and then once we get that, we'll adjudicate it accordingly," Fire Chief Brian Cummings said.
The video was produced by a Venice-based company called Hoopnotica that sells hula hoops and other gear and markets hooping classes.
A caption below the company's YouTube video stated, "Hooping with our Hometown Heroes, our local Firemen! Hooping is the fun, playful way to get moving and burn up to 400-600 calories per hour (according to the American Council on Exercise). Pick up a Hoop today to burn fat, have fun, and sculpt a waistline hot enough to set off fire alarms. Get out and Play!"
In 2011, a video that had been shot earlier with members of the same fire station in Venice surfaced showing a woman taking her top off while standing on and near a fire engine at Venice Beach.
Last October, Cummings admitted taking part in a photo shoot with a bikini-clad woman on a department fire truck at the same Venice station 14 years ago.
"I apologize to the residents of Los Angeles, Mayor (Antonio) Villaraigosa and the brave men and women of the Los Angeles Fire Department for this incident," Cummings said last year. He called his part in the photo shoot "irresponsible and inappropriate" and said he came forward with the picture for accountability.
"To be able to use my personal experience of what happened to me to be able to help my young firefighters, to keep them from making the same type of mistake is invaluable," Cummings said last October.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, the young woman in the hula-hooping video, Delila Santos, 21, called the most recent video "totally harmless."
"We were just having fun hooping," Santos told The Times.
