A fire department in upstate New York was ordered to remove American flags from its trucks after a city commission called them a "liability."
The Board of Fire Commissioners said it has reached out to Arlington Fire Chief Tory Gallante to discuss a compromise after demanding that his department remove the flags from the back of three trucks, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported Wednesday.
Gallante said he was "very disappointed" with the commission’s "direction."
The department removed the flags during a ceremony in Poughkeepsie on Tuesday.
"If we had to take them down, they had to be taken down the right way," the 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."
Arlington Fire Commissioner Chairman Jim Beretta said a majority of the board felt the flags were a "liability during normal operations for our people and other motorists." He said the flags were only recently mounted on the trucks at the union’s request.
Beretta said he is aiming to meet with Gallante Wednesday to negotiate a compromise.