A rift opened this week within Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department when upper management ordered firefighters at a Moreno Valley station to remove a pro-law enforcement flag from one of the engines.
Firefighter Eric Hille, who works out of Sunnymead Ranch Station 48, penned a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon decrying the decision for restricting his ability to show support for police. By about the same time Wednesday, the post had been shared by more than 700 people and was featured in a blog by conservative radio host Todd Starnes.
Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Chief John Hawkins, in a written statement issued Tuesday, said management ordered the flag be taken down Monday because it did not fit the department’s standards and because it could put the firefighters at risk of “extremists targeting the fire engine” and could prevent people from being able to see the warning lights on the back of the engine.
“If no standard exists, then any size, shape or content flag could be flown,” Hawkins said.
The flag, instead of the typical red, white and blue, was black and white except for a blue stripe through the middle – the “thin blue line” commonly used to commemorate fallen police officers.
Firefighters at the station also placed a blue-line decal on the side of the engine.
Hawkins said the flag’s design, “while strongly supporting our (law enforcement) family – could increase tension or cause a negative response within the community.”
Hille, in the Facebook post, said the purpose of flying the flag was to honor the three police officers who were killed Sunday in Baton Rouge, La., and the five officers killed July 7 in Dallas. Hille did not respond to requests to be interviewed Tuesday or Wednesday.
“I find it heartbreaking that we are not allowed to show our support for our brothers and sisters in blue in the event of the recent tragedies of all the Police Officers that have been killed in the line of duty,” Hille wrote. “We can’t shroud our badges or even lower our station flags to half-staff.”
Hille said Cal Fire officials also requested he delete pictures of the flag from social media. Hille refused to comply.
ADVOCATES, OPPONENTS
Cal Fire management’s order has garnered both support and criticism – some of it strong.
A Press-Enterprise online poll – which asked, “Should firefighters be able to keep the ‘blue line’ police flag on the engine?” – had more than 1,500 responses by 7 p.m. Wednesday. About 89 percent of respondents said yes and 10 percent said no, with about 1 percent having no opinion.
Former North Las Vegas Fire Department Assistant Chief Timothy Sendelbach, who is the editor in chief of firefighter trade magazine Firehouse, said he thinks Cal Fire administrators made the right decision.
” We all want to be patriotic and supportive, and certainly supportive of our law enforcement brothers and sisters,” Sendelbach said in a phone interview Wednesday. “But I think the best way to do that in this situation is through our actions: being there when they call for us and likewise.”
A similar controversy erupted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attack, when firefighters throughout the country started flying unmodified American flags on the back of their engines, Sendelbach said. Some saw it as disrespectful for the flag to be behind the engine rather than in front, and it often would get tarnished during fire responses.
Austin Green, spokesman for Thin Blue Line USA – the company that makes the flags – said via email that the company supports the firefighters’ “freedom of expression” in flying the flag, though it understands Cal Fire management’s concern.
” The flag honors the valor of police officers across the country,” Green said. “… This flag is a perfect way to support law enforcement officers everywhere.”
ACHING HEARTS
Hawkins, in his statement issued Tuesday, said some posts he has seen on social media suggested the department’s upper management doesn’t support law enforcement.
He described those posts as “venomous.”
“It is beyond belief to suggest ‘management’ isn’t acutely aware of or sensitive to the attacks on our (police) brothers and sisters,” Hawkins said. “But turning against us truly saddens me.”
Hawkins said all levels of management support law enforcement.
“Our hearts ache just as yours do for members of our public safety family who are under attack,” Hawkins said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have suffered the ultimate loss and to all who stand on that line daily on our behalf.”
