Above is our December 14 story on the noose being left in a firefighter’s vehicle. You can read the original story here.
Sources tell STATter911.com two Loudoun County firefighters were fired today almost four weeks after a noose was found inside the car of a black firefighter. The two firefighters had been on suspension with pay since the December 4 incident at Station 5 in Hamilton.
Sources familiar with the incident indicate the career firefighters, both white, thought it was a harmless prank when they put the noose inside the vehicle of a firefighter who worked on the same shift. That vehicle was parked in the lot of the fire station.
According to the sources, who are not authorized to speak officially for the department on this matter, the firefighter who was the victim, while angry, did not immediately complain about the noose. When the lieutenant who supervised the crew became aware of what happened he reported it to his superiors.
We have contacted officials with the Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue & Emergency Management for comment, but they have not yet responded. When STATter911.com first reported the incident on December 14, Chief Joseph Pozzo confirmed it had occurred and was being investigated. Chief Pozzo wrote in an email, “When the Department learned of the allegation we took immediate action”.
One of the firefighters terminated had just finished his probationary period in November.
On December 6, two days after first dealing with the noose incident, Chief Pozzo was faced with another serious incident involving a career firefighter. In that case, a phone call to Station 6 in Ashburn was perceived as a bomb threat. The call was traced to Station 2 in Purcellville. The firefighter being investigated for the threat is still on suspension with pay and has not been told what punishment he will face, if any.
Also on STATter911 …
- Noose left in Virginia firefighter’s car. Two FFs suspended in Loudoun County. Third FF under investigation for unrelated bomb threat incident. – December 14, 2009
- Quick Takes – December 15, 2009
- Pictures from two-alarm fire in Loudoun County, Virginia. Blaze destroyed townhouse in Leesburg. – December 28, 2009
- Quick Takes – March 8, 2010
Happy New Year ! Sad thing is they were probably two of the few firefighters in Loudoun that actually go into burning buildings.
Ha ha ha… Yeah right.
It was a stupid thing that they did. Should they have been fired? No. Give them days without pay. Give them sensitivity training. A lot of money was spent training them. Most everyone deserves a second chance and this is one of those cases.
Either way…they weren’t the smarter ones! You have to be smarter than that. It isn’t easy to get fired in this line of work. You have to give them a really good reason and these guys did just that.
The one woman in the video calling this pathetic… NO… what is pathetic is this politically correct world we are having jammed down our throats. Forget whether you think this was wrong or not… how pathetic is it for someone to lose their job over one slip up/mistake/stupid move or however you want to classify it. Whatever happened to the disciplinary step process?
It’s pathetic that we have moved from screw up… discussion… retraining… suspension then last resort… termination. Now we are just at… screw up… TERMINATION! Will we ever see management people run their organizations the way they want and the way it should be and not bow down or bend over for the politically correct ass wipes?
Politicly Correct my ass, So would it have been politically correct if the Firefighter that this so called prank was played on came into the firehouse and cut those two guys ass, I think not, it wasn’t a mistake or prank, a mistake is when you forget to put your seatbelt on or forget your boots @ the station, not putting a NOOSE in a black guys car, that’s shear ignorance. A firehouse prank is dumping water on his head or putting baby powder on his pillow, not racial things like nooses, besides those guys getting terminated, if I was the firefighter involved I would follow the two to the cornerstore and see which one of them had the balls to put it around my neck. Nooses in cars or any such racism, white or black, mexican or asian, shows a real lack or morale and brotherhood in the firehouse.
It is 2009 (well 2010 now) … how many more decades does the fire service need to get lynching humor isn’t funny??? Seriously, how many “do overs” and second chances and third chances have to be given? You really think these guys didn’t know what they did was inappropriate?? Wah wah wah boo hoo we have to be politically correct. What you are really saying you are expected to act like adults. Grow up, man up and stop acting like a bunch of kids. The firehouse isn’t your playpen whether you like it or not.
thats correct…its not a playpin…for career staff. they held the career staff to a high standard and took action that was appropriate. now i’m curious to know…if a volunteer did this…would have any action been taken? there are no rules in their playpin!!!
To the first poster who repeatedly bashes on LCFR,
You should really stop while you are ahead. There’s an old saying about everyone thinking you’re a dumbass, and opening your mouth and removing all doubt.
You are either a career hater in the county who doesn’t run fire with the career staff, or have applied for the job and couldn’t make it. Then again, it could be all of the above.
People know from reading the 3756 website that LCFR has some aggressive firefighters who do go inside.
For those who think the two offenders from Hamilton should not have lost their job, maybe they can come work with you now. I really don’t want to work with anyone like that.
Shame on them, I’m glad they were fired. When we are called out on fire/rescue calls, the ECC doesn’t tell us if the victim(s) are white, black, Hispanic or any other race. We respond because it’s our job. I have worked with excellent firemen, both career and volunteer. Good ridence to the two people who tarnished the good name of LCFR. There is no room for racism in a public service job, joking or otherwise.
You can say what you want but there will always be problems in the fire service. Most paid men think they are better because they get a check,but we all take the same kind of training. If its not white vs black then its North vs South or one station thinks there better then the other. I know one of the FF that was terminated and I know he was not brought up that way. Joke gone bad. This should have been handled at the Lt’s level but I guess lack of training. The one who leaked the information out should be fired also because he can’t keep his mouth shut. I know how the fire service works been doing it for 31 years.LCFR is not the only place this goes on.
Ok, well since i know anyone who was able to stay awake for loudouns tandberg, and not goouge out their eyes looking at pozzo the clowns pathetic excuse for a combover, and hi “UM” being every other word he uses its obvious that LCFR while not as a whole but at least at the highest level doesnt value their employees. Since those were Pozzos exact words “if you want to go elsewhere solong”. so especially in these economic times in a county with “no money” would you expect them to try and save their investments…….NOPE just fire em who cares not my job…
As a Human Resource professional outside the fire service and the wife of a volunteer fire fighter for more then 20 years, I can tell you what the County did was correct. Regardless of the line of business you are in when there is “hostile work enviornment” discrimination – prank or not someone has got to go and it should be those that pulled the so called prank. Like it or not the Fire Service is a business. No one should be subjected to discrimination at work either directly or indirectly. The Lt. acted properly. If he hadn’t he and the County could have been held personally liable should any FF have file suit in court for discrimination.