Fire cleanup worker let go over mockery

A crane operator dispatched to clean up the aftermath of the Camp Fire in Butte County was fired over the weekend, with two other workers, after making posts mocking the destruction on his Facebook page.

Rob Freestone, who worked for Bigge Crane and Rigging, shared multiple photos of himself and others, dating to Nov. 16, climbing on broken structures, posing in lots filled with debris and making jokes.

The San Leandro-based construction company released a statement Saturday saying that the three individuals involved had been fired.

“It came to our attention Friday night and Saturday morning,” company spokesman Randy Smith said Monday. “We got it from our inside sources and phone calls from other people in the industry who had seen” the posts.

The town of Paradise posted on Saturday morning condemning Freestone and stating that the town’s police department would look into possible criminal charges.

“This is unacceptable and reprehensible behavior,” the post read. “Town leadership has contacted this subject’s employer and he will no longer be working in our town.”

A department spokesperson did not immediately return a call Monday.

Freestone, a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers, had traveled from Indiana to work the Camp Fire, Smith said. He had been working for Bigge Crane and Rigging for about six weeks.

A spokesperson for Local 103, where Freestone holds membership, could not be reached for comment.

A picture from Dec. 9 showed Freestone straddling what appeared to be a mailbox painted like a firetruck with the caption, “I got to ride on a fire truck today.” Another image, posted Dec. 5, showed Freestone jumping in the middle of a broken trampoline, with the caption, “Trampolines are stupid. BTW, it used to be called a Jumpoline until your mom got on it.”

On Dec. 13, Freestone posted a picture of two other workers sitting in what looks like a destroyed RV, with the caption, “They’re off on a fun filled vacation to unknown destinations in their new RV.”

In a post from Nov. 17, Freestone photographed a dead cat with a beer bottle in its mouth, captioned, “Dude ... I was just chilling with my homies, having a couple of cold ones, and BAM ... damn fire breaks out.”

The Camp Fire, which ignited Nov. 8, destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in Paradise and the surrounding communities and killed at least 86 people.