One of the LA's most powerful officials, Fire Chief Brian Cummings, has been chopping vegetables and cooking for the homeless to fulfill 120 hours of self-imposed community service.
Cummings spoke exclusively with NBC4 about the service he volunteered to perform in the wake of an NBC4 porn investigation that threatened to tarnish his -- and the LA Fire Department's -- reputations.
"It is humbling," Cummings told NBC4, about his first hours spent at the Downtown Women's Center, a shelter for homeless women.
Cummings says he began volunteering in the kitchen there on October 15. This is the same shelter where actress Lindsay Lohan served part of her court-ordered community service for a shoplifting conviction.
In September, NBC4 first reported that city trucks from two fire stations were allowed to be used as backdrops for lewd scenes in porn movies.
As the scandal went viral worldwide, Cummings came forward with his own admission: that he too had allowed "inappropriate" photos to be taken of a semi-nude woman posing in front of an engine, years earlier when he was captain.
"Accountability starts with me," Cummings told NBC4, explaining that he offered to do community service to regain public confidence, after the NBC4 porn investigation.
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Cummings apparently wants to make good with the community-- and with women in particular.
He says he specifically chose to start his community service at the Downtown Women's Center because "this shelter caters to women who have been victimized."
Cummings told NBC4 that he keeps a low profile while performing service at the Center.
“I’m in civilian clothes when I go, and not saying who I am to the other volunteers. And when they ask what I do, I just say 'I work in downtown Los Angeles,“ Cummings said.
Unlike court-ordered community service, self-monitoring is the only check on Cummings' public commitment to complete 120 hours of volunteerism.
Cummings says he'll keep "a personal log" of the hours he served, and will Tweet when he performs service. He says he wants to complete all 120 hours by next July.
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