JULIAN, N.C. — Two members of the Julian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department are no longer a part of the station after some controversial comments made on social media. The department's Board of Directors met Tuesday night to address the comments made about immigration by a member and subsequent actions by another member.
The department says the remarks don't "represent the community-oriented values of this department." Both were removed from their post with the department, according to a release sent to media outlets on Wednesday. Guilford County Fire Marshal Stephen Thomas was made Julian's interim Fire Chief.
"Julian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department respects all the residents and visitors of the fire district regardless of sex, race, color, national origin, religion, political views or sexual orientation. Furthermore, we are working with the governments of Guilford County and Randolph County to re-establish the trust of the community and will focus on professional response and conduct for anyone that needs emergency assistance," said James Jones with the department.
"We deeply regret the actions of our former members and we apologize to anyone that may have been offended."
WFMY News 2 was made aware of the posts on Monday and have been working with the fire department to get their side of the story. We were not allowed to attend the meeting Tuesday night.
John Strowd, Fire Chief, North Chatham Volunteer Fire Department issued the following statement:
"On July 1, 2019, I was made aware of a posting on Social Media by a former employee of North Chatham Volunteer Fire Department. While this social media account was the individual’s account, not on any departmental sanctioned social media platform, it depicted images that unfortunately caused some people who viewed the post to believe that it reflected views of the North Chatham Volunteer Fire Department.
The comments posted were hateful, racist, derogatory and hurtful and in no way represent the sentiment or values of the North Chatham Volunteer Fire Department. Upon learning of this posting, I took immediate action to address the situation. Given that these actions involve a personnel matter, I am unable to discuss these actions in detail.
It is understandable that persons are offended and hurt by this individual’s posting. It saddens me that the actions of an individual have detracted from the exceptional professional service provided by career staff and volunteers of this department on a daily basis.
The North Chatham Volunteer Fire Department has a long tradition of providing exceptional service to the citizens within our Fire District and Chatham County. We have just completed celebrating this organization's 50th anniversary and remain committed to serving ALL members of our community. I assure you we will work to reestablish any trust that has been diminished through this incident."
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