A fire department in Michigan has launched an internal investigation after firefighters posed for a photo in front of a burning house.
The semi-derelict detached vacant house caught fire on New Year’s Eve and is located on a street where the majority of homes are not currently occupied.
The caption posted onto social media said: “Crews take a moment to get a selfie on New Years!”.
The picture of the crew members was posted on the Detroit Fire Incidents Facebook page but has since been taken down by the admins of the page.

The house was abandoned and in a semi-derelict state before the fire broke out
In a post, an admin said:
“In regards to the photo that was removed, we would like to clear a few things up,
“First of us no one at this page took that photo (sic)
“Second we were asked to post it by a fire fighter for the city of Detroit
“Third the only reason it was removed is we received messages by guys on the job stating that they had been threatened For the photo being posted.
“To clarify “threatened” meaning threatened by their work I would assume by their context threatened of punitive actions.
“Happy New Years from us at Detroit Fire Incidents Page”.
City fire officials said the crew that was on scene at the fire was marking a colleague’s retirement.
Detroit Fire Commissioner Eric Jones called the photo “inappropriate and unprofessional” as he announced the internal investigation.
In a statement to WXYZ-TV, Mr Jones said:
“There are a lot of ways to celebrate a retirement.
“Taking a photo in front of a building fire is not one of them.”
CLICK here to join our Emergency Services News community on Facebook.
Our social media group/community is open to both the public and emergency services personnel.
It is also a great place to share any emergency services related content (such as videos) which you have filmed.
If you have a story or video that you would like us to cover/share, then you can contact our team via contact@emergency-services.news
We also cover stories which relate to the NHS, the armed forces and the security services.
Before you go...
We need your help. As former emergency services & armed forces personnel, we pride ourselves on bringing you important, fast-moving and breaking news stories & videos which are free from the negative bias which is often directed at the emergency services & NHS by some sections of the mainstream media.
One of the reasons we started 'Emergency Services News' back in 2018 was because we became tired of reading badly informed stories about the emergency services & NHS which seemed only ever to highlight negative aspects of the job.
We want to be the unheard voice of the remarkable men and women who serve in the emergency services, NHS and armed forces. And with around 500k page views each month, we are getting there!
As income from ads, the mainstay source of income for most publishers, continues to decline; we need the help of you, our readers.
You can support emergency services news from as little as £1. It only takes a minute. Every contribution, however big or small, is vital for our future.
Please help us to continue to highlight the life-saving work of the emergency services, NHS and armed forces by becoming a supporter.