NAACP urges culture changes within San Diego Fire-Rescue

The NAACP San Diego Branch on Monday called on elected leaders to address what it labeled a hostile and toxic culture within the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

In a letter to Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Council, the NAACP shared images of what it said were troubling symbols and pictures found in fire stations and on equipment, including a sticker of the Gadsden flag on a helmet in a fire truck and a sticker of the "thin blue line" flag on what appears to be a door at a station.

The NAACP noted that the flags are sometimes associated with White supremacists.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokeswoman Mónica Muñoz said the stickers and other images were stripped from the equipment and stations after the department learned about them from the NAACP's letter.

"The Department is committed to providing a safe environment for all employees and to hiring employees representative of our communities," Muñoz said in a statement. "We believe diversity is among our greatest strengths."

NAACP San Diego Branch President Francine Maxwell said current and former employees shared the photos with the organization in the past two months.

In its letter, the organization noted that Gadsden flags were flown by a mob of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier this month in an attempt to disrupt the electoral vote confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden. The yellow flag depicts a coiled rattlesnake above the phrase, "Don't tread on me."

The thin blue line flag is a black-and-white version of the U.S. flag with a single blue stripe.

Some in law enforcement circles display the flag to honor fallen officers. But because it represents the concept that police are the "line" between law and order and chaos, critics say the flag promotes a sense of division between police and the communities they serve.

The sticker shown in the photo shared by the NAACP references the death of San Diego police Officer J.D. De Guzman, who was shot in the line of duty in July 2016.

Muñoz said the display of the flag was permitted temporarily to honor De Guzman, before it was "adopted by racist groups." She said crews from the station where the sticker was displayed responded to the shooting and treated De Guzman and a partner, who survived.

"While we also honor our peace officers for the risk they willingly take, this flag has always been a poor choice of symbol," the NAACP said in its letter. "Its underlying message is not one of unity, but of division."

The NAACP also shared what it labeled offensive and racist images in fire stations, including a photo of an overweight Black woman sitting on a man's lap and an image of a Black man lighting two cigarettes in his mouth.

The NAACP said all of the photos and symbols are "all the more troubling" because firefighters spend long periods of time at their stations — their second homes.

"A hostile firehouse is not only a hostile work environment, but it is a hostile living environment," the NAACP said. "This takes a psychic toll on every firefighter who is not white and male."

The NAACP called on Gloria and the City Council to "work immediately with the leadership of (San Diego) Fire-Rescue to show bolder leadership and implement policies and procedures to address the toxicity in the departmental culture."

In a statement, Gloria said he took the allegations seriously and will work with Fire Chief Colin Stowell to investigate them.

"As Mayor, I've made clear that racism and bigotry will not be tolerated in any circumstance in the City of San Diego," Gloria said.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.

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