A former Cal Fire firefighter from Rohnert Park says he was pushed out of his job after asking to keep facial hair required by his Orthodox Christian faith, and he’s now suing the agency over it. Kynan Barrios, who held the rank of Firefighter I, filed his complaint in Sonoma County Superior Court on August 19, alleging religious discrimination, retaliation and failure to accommodate his religious practices.
According to The Press Democrat, Barrios served with Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit during the 2021-2024 fire seasons, earning between $71,462 and $98,883 in annual pay and benefits, per Transparency California figures cited in the report. He first requested a religious accommodation from the agency’s facial-hair grooming policy on April 19, 2024, saying it conflicted with his Orthodox Christian grooming practices.
Cal Fire’s grooming policy requires facial hair that does not obstruct breathing masks, limiting mustaches to no lower than the bottom of the upper lip and no more than a half-inch beyond the corner of the mouth, the station’s report notes. Barrios contends in his complaint that Cal Fire rejected his request by citing safety and respiratory-protection concerns rather than evaluating his individual circumstances — even though he says he passed a self-contained breathing apparatus fit test while wearing facial hair in April 2024.
Warning Arrived Days After the Request
Barrios alleges that just five days after he made his initial accommodation request, Cal Fire issued him a written warning. He then submitted a formal written religious accommodation request five days after receiving that warning, which Cal Fire denied on May 15, 2024, per the same account…