BALTIMORE — A note with racist overtones and a knotted rope found in a firehouse early Wednesday have triggered a probe by the city’s fire and police departments.
Meanwhile, the FBI has begun its own preliminary investigation into possible civil-rights violations.
The note and the rope were discovered by two Fire Department employees — one black, the other white.
It was the second time in five months that allegations of a racial incident have hit the station house.
The earlier incident, in May, later was proved to be unfounded after fire officials determined that a decorated deer head mounted on the station wall was not done with a racist intent, fire officials said at the time.
But Wednesday, the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Vulcan Blazers — a group that represents Baltimore’s black firefighters — demanded a federal investigation into the rope and note, while the city fire union’s president said he hoped that critics would not jump to conclusions before an investigation was complete.
In a written statement, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said she was “outraged by this deplorable act of hatred and intimidation. Threats and racial attacks are unacceptable anywhere — especially in a firehouse.”
Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr., who plans to resign at the end of the year, said fire officials were working closely with city police detectives who are investigating the case as a possible hate crime.
The discovery at the fire- house once again tossed a beleaguered department into turmoil over issues of race.
In 2004, the Baltimore Fire Department was criticized for hiring an all-white recruit class and was pressured to change its testing and recruiting practices.
The department also is awaiting the release of a report by the city’s inspector general who investigated allegations that several black firefighters cheated on a promotional exam.
That report is expected to be released next week, according to a spokesman at Baltimore’s City Hall.
A spokeswoman for the FBI based in Baltimore said Wednesday that the federal agency had opened a preliminary inquiry into possible civil-rights violations stemming from the incident. She declined to comment further on the case.
