firetruck.jpg

(MLive file photo)

BELDING, MI - A Belding firefighter was fired early Monday after he allegedly made racist comments on his Facebook page, city officials said.

Ryan Hudson, a paid-on-call firefighter, was dismissed shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Monday Dec. 12, according to Belding Fire Chief Gregg Moore.

Moore said the social media comments were brought to his attention by another firefighter. He described the comments as "very racially driven."

"It was some of the worst words I had ever seen in my life," said Moore. "I knew immediately I had to do something."

The fire department stands against any type of discrimination and hires a force that reflects that, Moore said.

The comments were not directed at other firefighters or the city.

After speaking to the union representative and to the Belding city manager, the decision was made to terminate Hudson's employment. Moore said the process took less than 10 minutes.

"There is no excuse for anything like this," he said. "This is nothing we can stand for."

Hudson could not be reached for comment.

Hudson had been with Belding's Fire Department for just over a year. With a staff of 24 - four full-time firefighters and 20 paid-on-call firefighters - it's a tight-knit department. There had been no signs that would suggest he would make these types of comments, said Moore.

"Nobody saw this coming," he said. "This was very uncharacteristic of him."

Going forward, Moore said he wants to look more closely at the department's hiring and interviewing process.

Though there is a pretty thorough interview process, Moore wants to take a look at what the department can do differently when hiring firefighters.