10/07/2026
A post was made on this site Monday night by the FRFPD Board of Directors trying to distance themselves from a T-Shirt design with the Fosters-Ralph name on it that was posted to social media. Several community members seeing the design contacted board members expressing concerns that the design featured a demonic firefighter. There were a couple other issues associated with this that I’m not going to discuss over social media. To be honest, the design was not that bad other than the n**i style facemask displayed. Had the design incorporated a normal looking full face SCBA the post would never have been made and we would have handled the other issues in house. Because of the post, feelings got hurt and a retaliation war was started over social media with some of the most immature comments I’ve ever seen, both by firefighters and community members. Some of the comments expressed replacing board members, quitting the department, and even calling TFD instead of us in the event of a fire. All of this over an issue they didn’t fully understand because they only had one side of the facts that really weren’t truly factual. I have since deleted the post as the comments make us look like a joke of an organization. Firefighters and community members alike, SHOW SOME MATURITY!!! THINK before you post on social media. As for the BOD, we have some of the best members we’ve ever had. They care about the members, community, training, and retention of members. I don’t know that I’ve ever been denied a request from this board. But to be honest, over the last 24 hours I’ve had enough of this. That is the reason for this post and the deletion of the other. Community members and firefighters alike, we want your input, you have a voice, all we ask is that you do it with maturity. For our members, be very careful as to what you post over social media, learn the actual facts and if you must respond, do so in a mature manner. Comments you make can come back and bite you. HARD!! I want to thank the BOD that supports the communities we serve, the department members that take their time to respond to community emergencies, and the community members that supports our organization.
On another note. I’ve just found out that I have admin rights on this page, or at least how to use them. It appears that this site was created as a page. As a page it limits how post are created. As soon as I get time I’m going to create a group off this page that will make things more manageable and allow members to create their own post with any issues of concerns that they may have. Once created, all existing members will receive an invite to the new group page.
Thank you,
Mark Mitchell
Chief, FRFPD
