“And that’s our home, that’s our family,” voiced Bella Mason, EMT at El Cajon Fire Station 8, pouring her heart out. The first of her cohort to discover the devices, now feels “our sanctuary where we reset [was] just stolen.”
A lawsuit is underway against the City of El Cajon, along with Heartland Fire & Rescue and the American Medical Response. Four female first responders are suing in response to several suspicious cameras discovered in the women’s bunk rooms at El Cajon Fire Station in February.
“One of my coworkers [he] texted me and he asked me, ‘Do you have a camera in [your] room?’” Heartland Fire Station 8 EMT Bella Mason explained to reporters, who first made aware of the hiddens cameras in the women’s first responders bedroom, by a diligent colleague.
Having originally assumed it to be a phone charger, they discovered the disturbing truth on February 2 that it was a motion activated camera. Soon after, another device was found in the female firefighters’ rooms, camouflaged as a digital clock.
“Immediately, I just felt, like, sick,” Mason opened up about the wall camera facing directly at the foot of her own bed. “Every single time I was coming in there, in a vulnerable space, somebody was watching me.”
Mason and three other female EMTs came together and promptly filed several legal complaints for gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Despite the evidence at hand and a brief interview conducted by city police, disgracefully their complaints were denied. Betrayed, the four are now suing El Cajon, plus Heartland and AMR, their fire and rescue and EMT employers.
The lawsuit was filed in March, seeking $10,000 in damages for each of them, as they feel “it’s being swept under the rug.” With the footage still unrecovered, attorney Dan Gilleon, says the city’s lawful duty to “prevent it from happening in the future” has been grossly neglected.
A specific grievance the victims have aired is at AMR and parent company Global Medical Response, who called the incident “deeply concerning.” Offering very little beyond therapy and a station transfer, those affected felt their employers were dismissive of the overall criminality of the case.
Equally disappointing, El Cajon Deputy City Manager Marisol Thorn stated that ECPD must abstain from commenting on open criminal and workplace investigations. “They’re all getting therapy because nothing is being done,” Gilleon said, empathizing with his clients’ frustration.
“This is the one place I always feel safe,” Mason lamented, “that’s our home, that’s our family.” She has not stepped foot in that room since February, and is devastated that she feels their “sanctuary where we reset [was] just stolen.”
Horror stories like Heartland Fire 8 have become a sickening theme in San Diego County. A male janitor in Imperial Beach pleaded guilty in 2023 for planting concealed cameras inside a women’s restroom at Bayside STEAM academy. The year before, Chula Vista doctor Vicent Tran was revoked of his medical license and charged with 14 misdemeanors after secretly filming female nurses at a Veterans Affairs Clinic.
Despite the jarring perpetuation of these crimes, Mason and her cohorts are understandably disheartened “nothing is being talked about” and that “nothing has changed to prevent this from happening again.”
