Flare-Up in the Fight Over Playboy Ban : Courts: Fire Department will appeal a ruling that bars it from forbidding firefighters to read magazine at work.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department will appeal a judge’s ruling that it is unconstitutional for the department to forbid firefighters to read Playboy magazine at work, a regulation meant to discourage sexism in firehouses.

Les Tolnai, a senior deputy county counsel who last month unsuccessfully defended in court the Fire Department’s right to enforce the ban, said he filed the notice of appeal Monday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Fire Department officials banned possession of Playboy and other magazines featuring pictures of nude or skimpily dressed women from all work locations in 1992 in an effort to prevent a “sexually charged environment” for the department’s 11 women firefighters, who work with about 2,400 men.

Following a one-day trial last month, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson issued an order barring the county from enforcing the ban on Fire Capt. Steven W. Johnson, who brought a lawsuit challenging the policy.

In his ruling, Wilson found that county officials had failed to prove that quiet reading of Playboy contributes to a sexually harassing atmosphere. The judge also found that the ban placed severe limitations on Johnson’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

“It’s beyond my wildest belief that the fire chief and the county would want to waste more taxpayers’ dollars,” said Johnson, after learning the county had filed the notice of appeal. “I don’t think they’ve got a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.”

Tolnai, the attorney for the county, said his office is still negotiating a possible compromise settlement with Johnson’s attorneys. Johnson was represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Playboy.

It is unclear whether county officials will apply Judge Wilson’s ruling to other magazines covered by the ban and not just Playboy, the only magazine he specifically mentioned.

A county official had testified during the trial that the ban would also apply not only to men’s magazines, but to certain issues of Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated that contained pictures of nude or partially nude women.

Johnson said he has drafted a nine-page grievance, which argues that the judge’s order should apply to all reading material covered under the First Amendment and not just Playboy. He said he plans to file the grievance with his department if the issue is not resolved.