Rio Vista Fire Battalion Chief Brandon Vaccaro was fired this week after using inflammatory language on social media toward Sacramento protesters.

Galen Kusic, Editor

News broke Mon. in Rio Vista when it was revealed that Rio Vista Fire Battalion Chief Brandon Vaccaro was fired after using inflammatory language on social media toward Sacramento protesters in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week.

He wrote: “Start blasting!!!! They will go home. Once they see their dead friends on the freeway things will calm quick.”

After an individual spotted the comment and found out the account did in fact belong to Vaccaro, the person posted his comments. Residents came out in force to oppose the hateful comment, which was relayed to Rio Vista Fire Chief Jeff Armstrong.

Armstrong quickly responded to the comments, denouncing Vaccaro’s statement.

“The statements/posts shared with me do not reflect our beliefs or core values and fall below the City’s standards for a public servant and a member of RVFD,” wrote Armstrong. “The core values of the RVFD are: Community, honor, integrity, professionalism and service. We hold these at the highest level and they should guide our behavior. RVFD remains committed to serving the community, the pursuit of continuous improvement and holding ourselves accountable, to you our customers. I take the allegations seriously and am currently looking into the matter.”

Later Mon. at 5:03 p.m., Armstrong posted “this individual is no longer employed by the City or affiliated with RVFD.”

Vaccaro was hired in July of 2019 as a full-time fire battalion chief. The battalion chief’s duties were to assist the fire chief in the leadership and management of the department, specifically overseeing operations and training.

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