The fire chief of Arlington, New York, said he’s “very disappointed” with a recent decision to remove U.S. flags from the district’s fire trucks.

Fire Chief Tory Gallante was directed to have the flags removed from the backs of the trucks during Monday’s meeting of the Board of Fire Commissioners, the Poughkeepsie Journal first reported.

Arlington Fire Commissioner Chairman Jim Beretta said the board felt the flags were a “liability during normal operations for our people” and a possible distraction to other motorists, the Journal reported.

Mr. Beretta said the board didn’t take an official vote on the matter Monday, but “a direction was given to remove the newly affixed physical flags.”

“The board has the authority to provide direction to the chief based on a board majority,” he told the Journal.

Union President Joseph Tarquinio told the paper he’s disappointed in the board’s direction, but “if we had to take them down, they had to be taken down the right way. At the time when the country needs unity, to do something like this … it’s next to flag-burning in my mind.”

Mr. Gallante said he’s received dozens of messages from people across the country who are outraged at the board’s direction.

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