Five Macon-Bibb County firefighters will challenge the punishments they received after an online video surfaced showing a staged shooting.

The five have requested “due process” proceedings to protest their discipline after a 90-second video was posted on the YouTube website showing a masked, armed man threatening firefighters.

On Friday, however, The Telegraph viewed another version of the video, one that runs about a minute longer than the version posted on YouTube.

Fire Chief Marvin Riggins said Friday that he, too, had seen the longer version of the video. He said he’d also heard about text messages related to the incident that purport to show that a supervisor had prior knowledge of the hoax.

When punishments were meted out Wednesday, a city spokesman said that three supervisors punished in the case had nothing to do with the prank and did not know about it before it happened.

Although Riggins and mayoral spokesman Clay Murphey said they hadn’t seen the text messages, two sources familiar with the investigation of the hazing episode said Friday that the messages exist.

Riggins said that if new information or evidence surfaces that’s credible, he could reopen the investigation.

“I’m treating these things very seriously,” he said.

In the 90-second version of the video, titled “rookie prank,” a masked gunman bursts through a fire station door, and firefighters scramble to get out of the way as he brandishes a weapon. The masked man grabs one firefighter and snatches him away from the kitchen area. Moments later, off screen, comes what sounds like a gunshot. The video clip ends seconds later.

Riggins said later that the sound heard on the video actually was a firecracker. The masked man was waving a BB pistol.

In the longer video, Capt. Stephanie Burke stands up at the end of the staged attack, picks up a chair that had overturned in the bedlam, then gathers near a kitchen area with other firefighters, laughing with them about what had just happened.

Two rookie firefighters were targets of the hazing.

Although he admitted having concerns, Riggins said “having seen (the video), it doesn’t necessarily contradict” Burke’s statements that she had no prior knowledge of the hoax, he said.

An effort to reach Burke for comment Friday was unsuccessful.

Riggins said Burke claims she sustained a knee injury during the prank, but that the injury didn’t require medical attention.

No additional injury claims had been filed by Friday afternoon.

The five firefighters who have requested “due process” proceedings will have an opportunity to present new evidence or describe why they believe their punishments were too harsh.

Riggins said he set aside Monday for the proceedings because he was out of town Friday at a conference.

The punishments announced for eight firefighters Wednesday included one suspension pending termination, a demotion and several suspensions without pay. Punishments for officers included lighter penalties, such as a two-day suspension for Burke and a written reprimand for James Wallace, a battalion chief.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398. To contact writer Oby Brown, call 744-4396.