Sick burn, dude.

The son of Orange County, Florida's assistant fire chief has been suspended from the fire department for 12 hours without pay after admitting that he painted a big ol' Confederate battle flag on his work ax, which was found at the home of an African-American man who'd called authorities for help with a house fire.

The rebel hatchet's existence came out as part of an investigation by the county fire chief into "a culture of entitlement at his busiest fire station," according to Orlando's WFTV (video's below):

The report claims a black man who lived at the home that was burning was already upset about the fire at his home, so when a fire department lieutenant saw the ax with the flag painted on it, he told a supervisor about it and took it away before the homeowner saw it.



A few days later, the son of Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Holton admitted he had painted the flag on the ax.



Holton told investigators he did it to "touch up" the ax at Station 42 and said to him it signified his small town roots and core values of family and hard work.



He denied being racist or intending to offend anyone.

Well, at least he sorta gets that there's a connection between the Confederacy and, uh, "hard work."

For his part, Orange County Fire Chief Otto Drozd is a little peeved that all of the erstwhile Robert E. Lee's station mates claimed to have never seen the decorously painted battleax, not even in their regular gear inspections.

"Either they knew and didn't say anything, or they should have known," he said.

[Screenshot courtesy of WFTV]