UMATILLA, Fla. -- A suspended Central Florida fire chief could lose his job over e-mailed photos from a crash scene that included at least one image of a female victim's exposed breasts.

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Umatilla Fire Chief Richard took photos of a 26-year-old woman being treated by emergency workers after she crashed her sport utility vehicle into a tree.

Shirk snapped photos of the woman and then e-mailed them to surrounding fire departments, Local 6's Charnel Wright reported.

Umatilla City Manager Glenn Irby said the woman, who later died, had her privacy rights violated.

"In passing that information along to others that had nothing to do with the emergency rescue, that becomes to me a moral issue," Irby said. "Distasteful, if you will."

Shirk wrote a letter to the city manager, admitting that he snapped the photos but said he never meant for them to be derogatory.

In the letter, Shirk said he takes photos at every major fire and accident scene. He called the photos "invaluable investigative tools" and said they were e-mailed for educational purposes.

"If it were for training purposes, keeping them in-house would have probably been OK," Irby said.

Irby also said that Shirk was told his services were not needed when he arrived on the scene and he should have left.

The chief said he did not realize there was nudity in the e-mailed photos.

Local 6 News reported that Shirk remains suspended and could lose his job.

Shirk was not available for comment.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.