Fire Department officials have ordered an East Village ladder company to remove the “Red Line” American flag honoring the six brothers of the unit killed on 9/11. It’s a political symbol after neighbors complained it was “fascist” and a local left-wing pole questioned whether it was. ”
The shocking order was issued on March 22 after a man claiming to be a staffer for Democratic Manhattan City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera confronted firefighters at Ladder Co. 11, officials said. .
the man pedaled eastn.d. He rode his bicycle to a street fire station and told firefighters he worked for Rivera and that the councilman’s office had “complained” to the FDNY about the flag three days earlier. The flag features a red stripe in honor of firefighters injured or killed in the line of duty.
He called it a “fascist symbol” and demanded to know why it was still there, officials said.
In a March 19 email to FDNY Intergovernmental Affairs Coordinator Madison Hernandez, Rivera City Clerk Lysander Rosario said the City Councilman’s office had been contacted twice by “constituents” about the ladder company’s flag. He said he was contacted and asked if he had violated department rules.
“[FDNY staff] However, he insisted that it was to honor the memory of the firefighters who died. [the constituent] “I brought up that they could have used the FDNY flag instead of a political symbol,” Rosario wrote.
“It is his and our understanding that private political symbols are not allowed to be displayed on public vehicles.”
“Could you please confirm if there is a violation flag/symbol on Ladder 11?” added the email, obtained by the Post.
Hours after the “voters” left the firehouse, FDNY Deputy Chief Joseph Cirali visited with local firefighters to remove the flag from the fire truck, in violation of the agency’s ban on “altered” versions of the U.S. flag. He reluctantly stated that he had to take the plane down.
Officials said the rule was introduced in 2020, during the height of anti-police Black Lives Matters protests, when then-Chief Daniel Nigro and then-First Deputy Secretary Laura Kavanaugh took action. It was enforced by
Mr. Cirari told firefighters he agreed it would be “stupid” to remove the flag, one of the smokers recalled.
The order sparked immediate outrage on social media, with Conservative Instagram influencer Logan O’Handley posted a photo of the flag and said: “New York firefighters forced to remove monuments to those who died on 9/11. What happened to New York?
Hours later, the current commissioner, Mr. Kavanaugh, and Commissioner John Hodgens reversed the decision and allowed the flags to be returned to the trucks.
“We’re happy with the outcome, but angry that this happened in the first place,” Ladder 11 Firefighter said.
“This flag means a lot to us.”
Rudder Company 11 is next to a memorial placard on the back of a fire truck honoring Lt. Michael Quilty and firefighters Michael Cammarata, Edward Day, John Hefferman, Richard Kelly Jr., and Matthew Logan (all killed). holding a red line flag Response to the World Trade Center attack September 11, 2001.
“I hope [Rivera’s office] “They would say, ‘We want to know the flag and what it represents,’ before asking for it to be removed,” said another Ladder 11 firefighter.
Rivera told the Post that his office never contacted Ladder 11 about the issue and that the original accuser was a constituent, not an employee.
She said that after a constituent questioned the legality of the flag in an email to staff, her office sent an email to the FDNY asking if ladder companies were “flying political symbols.” He said he sent it on March 19th.
“We have not heard anything further from the FDNY and have not taken any additional action on this matter,” Rivera said, adding that they have allocated $450,000 from City Council discretionary funds to improve the ladder company’s fire station. .
“My relationship with Ladder 11 has always been strong.”
Rivera, a former member of the Democratic Socialist Party of America, voted to defund $1 billion to the New York Police Department in 2020 and routinely accused police of looting during Black Lives Matters protests that year. I was also there.
Some FDNY officials believe all the fuss over the flag stems from confusion between the red-line and blue-line stars and stripes, which are typically displayed to honor police officers injured or killed in the line of duty. He said that
City Councilwoman Joanne Arriola (R-Queens), who chairs the Fire and Emergency Management Committee, called the flag removal debacle “an understandable attack on the First Amendment rights of public servants.”
“Sadly, radicalism and censorship are becoming the norm in American politics,” she said.
