An order to have American flags removed from fire trucks in a Town of Poughkeepsie fire district has landed the issue in the national spotlight, creating a swirl of controversy. Both sides hope for a resolution to come out of a meeting scheduled for this afternoon.
Arlington Fire District Fire Chief Tory Gallante says he held a ceremony Tuesday to remove the flags from three trucks following a directive from the Board of Fire Commissioners.
“I have received a ton of emails, phone calls, visitors, 99.9 percent of people expressing their anger and stuff with having the flags removed,” Gallante says. “Obviously, I was very upset with the Board’s directive as was the department personnel.”
James Beretta is chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners for the Arlington Fire District. During an August 15 board meeting, he told how he was on Hooker Avenue Saturday and noticed a flag mounted on one of the district’s fire trucks. Beretta says it was a revelation to him that any flag mounting had begun. He said the following during the meeting.
“I do not feel that those flags are necessary during normal operations,” Beretta says. “I’ve absolutely no problem with ceremonies and parades and kinds of things where you would adorn the apparatus with some extra things like a flag but, during normal operations, I don’t feel it’s necessary.”
Three out of five fire commissioners, Beretta included, said they wanted the flags removed from the rear of the fire vehicles, citing issues of liability and safety. Fire Chief Gallante, meanwhile, explains how the flags came to be mounted in the first place.
“About a month, month-and-a-half ago, I was approached by the union that represents the paid firefighters about putting flags on the rear of some of our vehicles here at our headquarters station, with the union purchasing the flags,” Gallante says. “I told the union to go ahead and place them on there with a couple of conditions, obviously, that they were secured properly, they were kept clean and they didn’t interfere with any operations. We had our mechanics take a look at the flags. They were installed properly. We have a Health and Safety Committee. They had no issues with the flag placement or anything like that.”
Gallante says the Board of Fire Commissioners chairman called him Wednesday and they, along with other board members and union members, were slated to meet Thursday afternoon on the flag issue.
“I’m hopeful maybe at some point there’ll be some sort of resolution, and everybody else remains hopeful, too,” Gallante says.
Local elected officials have been weighing in on the flag controversy. City of Poughkeepsie Mayor Rob Rolison, a Republican, issued a statement Wednesday, saying his office had received numerous phone calls and emails. Rolison noted the Arlington Fire District is in the Town, not the City, of Poughkeepsie, and thus outside the city’s jurisdiction, but said, “As the Mayor of the City of Poughkeepsie, I can confirm that we are proudly displaying the American flag on our fire apparatus.” Rolison offered the phone number of the Arlington Fire Department on the city’s web site.
Republican state Assemblyman Kieran Lalor is calling on the Arlington Fire District Board of Commissioners to rescind its order, and Republican state Senator Sue Serino hopes the board will work quickly toward a solution that allows fire department members to express their American pride. Gallante says there were plans to mount flags on other fire trucks.
“I actually, we’re a combination department, career and volunteer, I actually did receive requests from some of the volunteer companies to go ahead and place flags on the vehicles,” says Gallante. “They just did not get a chance to do it yet. They were in the process.”
Gallante says he did receive two calls in support of removing the flags.
