Hernando conservatives call for fire union leader’s resignation over explicit post

Hernando County Conservatives chairman Louis Johns is calling for Jason Haas to resign after the Hernando County Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 3760 shared an explicit adult post. Johns tied the controversy to the union’s public role in Hernando County and to its growing presence around local schools.

Haas is listed as president on the union’s Executive Board Members page. The union’s own website says Hernando County Professional Firefighters, I.A.F.F. Local 3760, is dedicated to protecting the rights, safety and well-being of firefighters and paramedics, a mission now overshadowed by the backlash over the post.

Johns said his concern is heightened by the union’s connection to a firefighter academy for students. Hernando Schools says Weeki Wachee High School is launching the first-ever Firefighter Academy in Hernando County Schools, and only 50 seats are available. Hernando County Fire Rescue has partnered with Weeki Wachee High School to establish the academy, linking the fire service even more closely to the school district.

The International Association of Fire Fighters, which Local 3760 is affiliated with, describes itself as the labor union for firefighters and emergency medical workers in the United States and Canada. That makes Local 3760’s public image more than a local political issue: it is part of how first responders, a county agency and a school-based training program present themselves to Hernando County residents.

The dispute now centers on accountability. Johns has put the union’s leadership under public pressure, and Haas’s role as president places him at the center of the fallout. What happens next will shape whether this becomes a short-lived political flare-up or a broader test of how a public-facing labor group polices its own social media and represents the fire service in Hernando County.