California wildfire cleanup workers fired for posting insensitive photos

Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Three workers assigned to clean up homes destroyed by California's Camp Fire have been fired for taking photos and making insensitive remarks online.

The workers with Bigge Crane and Rigging posted photos that show them smiling and posing in residents' burned out homes -- including a picture in which they placed a beer bottle in the mouth of a dead cat with a joking caption.

The photos appeared on a social media page belonging to one of the workers, who now faces criminal charges.

The Town of Paradise, which received the bulk of the fire's damage, eventually tracked down the workers. The Camp Fire killed 86 people and essentially wiped out the town of Paradise in California's Butte County.

The town called the photos "unacceptable" and "reprehensible."

Paradise Town Council member Michael Zuccolillo said this case is the exception, not the rule, for workers who are helping clean up the damage left by the wildfire.

'It made me very angry. It actually almost made me want to cry, because that's someone's property, and someone's pet," Paradise resident Lindy Esposito, whose home survived the fire, told KRCR-TV. "It's inexcusable."

Bigge Crane and Rigging said in a statement on its Facebook page the workers had been fired.

"Bigge expects its employees and contractors to work with the utmost integrity and professionalism," the company said. "The behavior of these individuals is not consistent with our company values and ethical code. Bigge regrets that the residents of Paradise and Butte County have suffered an egregious insult during an already devastating time at the hands of these three individuals."