At the center of the storm is Al Suarez, 44, a fire captain who officials say organized a photo shoot involving two strippers at a North Tampa fire station. Suarez, a longtime city employee, is former head of the firefighters' union and a friend and vocal supporter of Mayor Pam Iorio.

AL SUAREZ, hired Feb. 12, 1985. Fired for insubordination, neglect of duty, moral turpitude and breach of peace. He will use vacation time until Feb. 12, when he can retire with an annual pension of $44,000. Will lose $4,707 in unused sick pay.

Al Suarez; [STEPHEN C. JOHNSON]; [MICHAEL D. LAYTON]; [MICHAEL A. CAMPBELL]; [Michael Berwald]; A stripper identified as [Jamie] was one of two women who posed in various stages of undress.; Photo: PHOTO, (5); PHOTO, City of Tampa

The call came in December from a man claiming to be an angry father.

His son was playing basketball with friends in October, he said, when they saw flashing lights coming from a nearby Tampa fire station.

He said the bay doors were closed, but the boys peeked in on a scene that had nothing to do with fighting fires - a woman wearing high heels, red lipstick and nothing else, clinging to a shiny Tampa Fire Rescue engine as men snapped pictures.

The caller never left his name. And no one ever confirmed his story.

But his call sparked a fire of its own: A six-week investigation by city officials and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that involved lies and attempted coverups, career threats and promises to pay for another's silence.

At the center of the storm is Al Suarez, 44, a fire captain who officials say organized a photo shoot involving two strippers at a North Tampa fire station. Suarez, a longtime city employee, is former head of the firefighters' union and a friend and vocal supporter of Mayor Pam Iorio.

But none of that saved him Wednesday, when he was fired 10 days before his 20th anniversary with the department. Four other firefighters were suspended without pay for two to four weeks.

Their bosses were left to clean up the mess.

According to the investigation, Suarez met one of the strippers and one of the men who took photos that day through firefighter Michael Berwald, who also worked part time at Thee Dollhouse nude club in South Tampa.

Suarez was off duty Oct. 17 and met the strippers, identified only as Jamie and Heather, at a Chili's res

taurant. They followed him to Station 21, in the Hunter's Green community, where several firefighters taped garbage bags over the windows.

The photo session started with Jamie posing in a bikini with a fire hose wrapped around her. Both Jamie and Heather propped themselves against the red truck wearing only firefighter pants and suspenders.

Soon enough, both women were naked (except for high heels), still using the firetruck as a prop.

Stephen Johnson, a longtime department employee and football coach at a Hernando County high school, was acting captain that day. He protested when he came into the room and saw bare breasts, the report stated. But Suarez assured him everything was okay, and Johnson returned to the captain's quarters.

The performance in the station reached an audience far beyond its walls. Investigators said more than 50 photos showed up on Web sites, including one where the stripper, Jamie, kept a diary:

"I met up with Heather and we went to this Fire Dept. and she took a reeeealy cute set of pics of me!" Jamie's entry read. "There were like 5 guys (cute I might add) that were sitting in chairs gawking ."

It wasn't the last the women would see of Suarez, according to the investigation. They performed at his bachelor party in his home weeks later, on Nov. 4, two days before he married Samantha Ward, a Hillsborough County assistant public defender.

Tampa fire officials spent five days in January interviewing 23 employees about what happened that October day. At first, every one of them denied knowledge of the event.

Officials say Suarez contacted many of them after the photo session, urging them to lie and not cooperate. He promised them "they would not be disciplined because the city would not be able to prove that the incident occurred."

He also threatened career repercussions if the men didn't protect him. And he told at least one of them that should the man get fired, Suarez would pay his salary "until he could get his job back."

In the end, the coverup failed.

Last weekend, in a second round of interviews, the men at the station that day came clean. That included Suarez, who until Wednesday had earned mostly praise during his two decades at the department.

Supervisors described him as "a natural leader" and "a professional in all aspects." They lauded his "good judgment" and wrote that he "consistently strives to support and improve the image of the fire rescue department."

In his last evaluation, in August, Suarez wrote, "I look forward to many more years with TFR."

He pushed for leadership, eventually becoming head of the firefighters' union. He saw to it that the union stayed neutral in the mayor's race in 2003, despite the fact that Bob Buckhorn initially garnered the most union votes.

Soon after, Suarez resigned as union president for "personal reasons." Then he appeared at a fundraiser for Iorio. The firefighters also endorsed Iorio in the mayoral runoff.

On Wednesday, not even the mayor could defend her friend's actions.

"It's a big organization, and people aren't always going to do the right thing," said Iorio, who said she hadn't spoken with Suarez and that his past support didn't factor in the decision to fire him.

She called the punishment of everyone involved "appropriate" and said "the worst part of it was the attempt to cover it up."

Aria Green, the city's former fire chief whom Iorio fired last fall only a month after she gave him a glowing evaluation, said he wasn't surprised to hear about the incident at Station 21.

Green, known as a disciplinarian who often butted heads with the union, said he banned all pornographic material at the city's fire stations when he took over.

"I wanted to have a more professional atmosphere," Green said.

He said his policies met with resistance from the union. Asked about what happened at Station 21, he said, "I believe the union helped create that environment. These individuals are supposed to show leadership. They are not supposed to lead (subordinates) into this sort of thing."

Fire Chief Dennis Jones, Green's successor, said he was "embarrassed" by the incident.

"I was shocked. I was appalled," he said. "I hope people won't judge the entire department by these four or five individuals. I hope this (punishment) sends a message."

Current union chief Larry Parker said the union will discuss whether to appeal the firing and suspensions.

"I don't know if you can say it's unfair," he said. "We expected some very hard punishment."

THE PUNISHMENTS

AL SUAREZ, hired Feb. 12, 1985. Fired for insubordination, neglect of duty, moral turpitude and breach of peace. He will use vacation time until Feb. 12, when he can retire with an annual pension of $44,000. Will lose $4,707 in unused sick pay.

STEPHEN C. JOHNSON, driver engineer, hired at Tampa Fire Rescue on Oct. 22, 1989. Suspended one month for insubordination, neglect of duty and moral turpitude. Will lose $5,007.36 in pay.

MICHAEL D. LAYTON, firefighter, hired April 22, 1991. Suspended three weeks for insubordination, neglect of duty and moral turpitude. Will lose $3,452.12 in pay.

MICHAEL A. CAMPBELL, firefighter, hired June 2, 2003. Suspended two weeks for insubordination, neglect of duty and moral turpitude. Will lose $1,269.12 in pay.

MICHAEL BERWALD, firefighter, hired June 2, 2003. Suspended two weeks for insubordination, neglect of duty and moral turpitude. Will lose $1,269.12.