ANNANDALE, Va. (WUSA) — Racist online posts about Fairfax County choosing its first Black fire chief have county leaders launching an investigation to try to find out who is behind them.
It's the second time the Fairfax County Fire Department has been rocked by disturbing online posts. All the posts used fake names.
Howard County, Md. Fire Chief John Butler will start as the new fire chief in Fairfax on September 1st. The retired Marine is the subject of several racist remarks on the infamous website Fairfax Underground.
One complains that "minorities are taking over Fairfax County. Black Fire Chief, Black County Manager."
Another one states "having black skin is a ticket for a free ride through life."
And another one, "It's a great time to be Black in America. If you can spell your name, you can get a fried ride thru college, be fire chief or even president."
"Filthy vulgar comments," said Ron Kuley the president of the Fairfax County Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics Union.
"We don't know who these people are. There's no way of proving that. What we do know if that it's filth, vile, they're cowards hiding behind a keyboard," said Kuley.
Kuley said he had spoken with Butler about the comments.
"First words were sorry. I'm sorry this is happening," said Kuley.
He said he also talked to some of the black leaders in the department.
"I said, 'I'm not going to put myself in your shoes. This is terrible. We're here to support you, our members are their members,'" said Kuley.
Two years ago, after firefighter Nicole Mittendorff took her own life, it was discovered that on the same website, she was bullied and sexually harassed by people who seemed to have inside knowledge of the department.
Same with some of these news racist posts.
Fairfax County Mason Supervisor Penny Gross refuses to look at the posts.
"Cowardice, outrage. It does not reflect the values in Fairfax County, or any place else quite frankly.," said Gross.
She said a new investigation is underway.
"We are doing something about it. We are doing the investigation and we're moving forward to make sure our wonderful fire and rescue department continues to be the institution that we are very proud of. That we send around the world to do the things they are well-trained to do," said Gross.
John Butler, a retired Marine, starts his new job in Fairfax on September 1.
