Three construction company employees assigned to clean up the Camp Fire burn zone were fired — and face a criminal investigation — after one of them allegedly posted to social media a series of offensive photos showing themselves in the scorched Northern California area, the company announced.
The Bigge Crane and Rigging employees were fired following their "abhorrent" behavior cleaning up the town of Paradise, in Butte County, which was destroyed by the deadly Camp Fire.
A spokesperson for the Paradise Police Department confirmed to Fox News on Sunday that officials have opened a criminal investigation into the employees' behavior, and were consulting with the Butte County District Attorney's Office.
The photos posted to Facebook appeared to show the workers goofing off at the homes lost in the deadly blaze, which fire officials have said spanned more than 153,000 acres.
Firefighter Jose Corona spraying water as flames from the Camp Fire consumed a home in Magalia, California, on Nov. 9. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
In one photo, shared by the Town of Paradise Facebook page, a man was seen sitting on a mailbox shaped like a fire truck, alongside the caption: "I got to ride on a fire truck today."
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One photo showed employees pretending to drive an RV, which was almost completely burned. Another photo, which appeared to show a dead cat with a bottle placed near its mouth, was captioned: "Dude... I was just chilling with my homies, having a couple of cold ones, and BAM... damn fire breaks out."
Homes leveled by the Camp Fire line the Ridgewood Mobile Home Park retirement community in Paradise, California on Dec. 3. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
The company wrote on Facebook Saturday that the employees' behavior was "not consistent with our company values and ethical code." Bigge said those affected by the Camp Fire "suffered an egregious insult during an already devastating time."
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The Camp Fire, which started Nov. 8 and was fully contained toward the end of the month, killed at least 86 people and damaged or destroyed thousands of homes and other structures. The town of Paradise alone, with a community of around 27,000, essentially was destroyed.
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