The image was featured on a local Facebook page, showing 18 people posing in front of a blazing vacant building

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

A controversial Facebook photo of 18 Detroit firefighters posing in front of a burning home was “inappropriate and unprofessional” and will result in disciplinary action, the city’s fire commissioner said.

The photo was posted Tuesday just before midnight on the Facebook page Detroit Fire Incidents Page. It included a caption: “Crews take a moment to get a selfie on New Years!”

It has since been taken down.

The Detroit News (@detroitnews) Detroit firefighters' photo in front of flaming house draws fire https://t.co/Fo7d651s8G pic.twitter.com/PAiC5EP1e2

The deputy fire commissioner Dave Fornell said the photo was taken outside a vacant house on the city’s west side, where the fire was reported on Tuesday at 6.34pm. The house was too dangerous to enter, he said.

He explained that the firefighters were celebrating a retiring fire battalion chief.

Despite the house being unoccupied, the photo sparked a swift backlash on social media, with one user calling it “wildly unacceptable”. Dozens of people commented on the original Facebook photo before it was removed, according to the Detroit News.

“There are a lot of ways to celebrate a retirement,” said fire commissioner Eric Jones in a statement. “Taking a photo in front of a building fire is not one of them.”

Jones added: “Behind every fire is a devastated family or property owner.”

In a message posted to Facebook, Detroit Fire Incidents said the photo has been posted at the request of “a firefighter for the city of Detroit”, and that it had been removed after receiving messages from “guys on the job stating that they had been threatened” over the photo.

“I would assume, by their context, threatened of punitive actions,” the post added.