Fire Department Will Put U.S. Flags Back on Fire Trucks After Outcry

American flags will be reinstalled on fire trucks in an Upstate New York community after a decision to remove them sparked controversy earlier this month.

Breitbart News reported that the American flags had been removed from three fire trucks on August 16 after the Arlington Board of Fire Commissioners instructed Fire Chief Tory Gallante to remove them due to safety concerns and possible U.S. flag code violations.

The decision angered many firefighters’ union members and others on social media.

“If we had to take them down, they had to be taken down the right way,” firefighters’ union President Joseph Tarquinio told the Poughkeepsie Journal. “At the time when the country needs unity, to do something like this … it’s next to flag-burning in my mind.”

The agreement would allow smaller 2-by-3-foot American flags to fly on three of the district’s most-used fire trucks, Fox News reports.

Officials decided to allow one large flag on a fire truck in an attempt to make a compromise before the decision was made, but that turned out to be unsuccessful.