The FDNY is banning pictures and merchandise related to President-elect Donald Trump from firehouses and firetrucks, according to a source inside the department.
“The message was: keep politics out of the house,” the source said to the New York Daily News. “It was obvious that in the days following the election people were bent out of shape.”
Agency rules dictate that firefighters should avoid political signage and posters while on the job, the Daily News reported.
The source denied it was from a firetruck in Brooklyn, which was spotted driving around with a Trump cut-out on its grille.
“It was meant to be a reminder of the department’s regulations about messaging that could prove to be problematic in the work place,” the source said.
Jim Slevin, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, disagreed, saying that the department was sending the wrong message.
“Honoring and respecting the office of President of the United States is an American tradition,” Slevin said in a statement. “What is quite ironic, is that the President-elect’s photo will soon hang in every federal building, on military bases and U.S. Embassies across the globe.”
The Brooklyn firetruck with the Trump cut-out has caused much controversy when the truck showed up to fight a fire that turned out to be a false alarm.
The firefighters say the mask was “just a goof” and the lieutenant said it was a “patriotic thing.”
“A lot of the guys were pro-Trump, so it’s a patriotic thing. It’s a patriotic house. The guys were, I’d say for the most part, happy with the results,” the lieutenant said.
The mask was taken down after the reaction of some in the neighborhood.
FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer said “there is no specific policy” on placing political paraphernalia on an FDNY vehicle.
“But it’s inappropriate to place any such imagery (i.e., a cardboard cutout of any person) on FDNY vehicles/equipment,” Dwyer wrote.
This is not the first time fire departments have imposed boundaries on its firefighters.
An upstate New York fire department ordered American flags removed from its fire trucks in August only to have the order reversed later in the month.