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Briarcliffe Fire Company shut down over racist slurs, mocking dead 8-yr-old Fanta Bility

One Briarcliffe firefighter mocked Fanta Bility's name. He called the dead 8-year-old Black girl as 'Fanta soda, yeah, orange or Fanta grape'

A volunteer Delaware-area fire station has been temporarily shut down for at least 30 days after its members were caught using racial slurs and mocking Fanta Bility, an 8-year-old Black girl, who was fatally shot by officers with the Sharon Hill Police Department in August 2021 after a high school football game. The firefighters from Briarcliffe Fire Company Station 75, in Delaware County, who made the racial slurs thought their conversation was private following a Zoom meeting last month. 

"The original call was to discuss the consolidation of services between the Briarcliffe, Goodwill, and Darby fire companies," as per multiple reports. "When county and state officials got off the call, members of the Briarcliffe Fire Company allegedly stayed on and engaged in a discussion that included racial slurs and disparaging remarks about African Americans in the area." 

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The Darby Township Board of Commissioners voted to temporarily shut down the Briarcliffe Volunteer Fire Company on Wednesday, February 9, after members of the Goodwill Fire Company, one of the township's three volunteer firehouses, sent a letter to the township's board of commissioners detailing the alleged comments about Black residents and Black firefighters made during the call, reported the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Briarcliffe Fire Company was joined on the January 27 call by the neighboring Goodwill and Darby fire companies. The virtual meeting was being held to discuss a possible consolidation of the three companies. State and county officials also were on the call.

The Briarcliffe firefighters reportedly didn't realize that their colleagues from the Goodwill station were still on the line and that they are recording the call. One Briarcliffe firefighter can be heard saying, "A bunch of f*cking (n-word) down there," in reference to the all-Black Darby Township Fire Company. The Briarcliffe members can also be heard complaining about Black firefighters being lazy and discussed that there are too many African-Americans living in the area. "That's the f*cking problem," one Briarcliffe firefighter said. "Blacks are taking over sh*t." Another firefighter mocked Fanta Bility, an 8-year-old Black girl, "Fanta soda, yeah, orange or Fanta grape." 

In a statement posted to Facebook, Delco Resists, an organization that shared the recording of the Zoom call said, "The disregard for Fanta's life strikes at the core of the community's faith in public servants and demands systemic reform across the entire county, at every level of government." The statement further said that Delco Resists will join Fanta's family in the calls for disciplinary action to be taken against those responsible, and for further investigation. "To speak of her with such disrespect, shines the light of shame on those people at the firehouse making the remarks, and reflects negatively on those good and true first responders who pledge their lives to the service of all members of the community," the slain girl's family said in a statement.

Delaware County District Attorney, Jack Stollsteimer in a press statement said that his office is planning to conduct a further investigation into the allegations. "Whether or not a crime occurred, hate speech is always morally wrong," he said. "It doesn't reflect the people who live here in Darby Township and it doesn't reflect the people who live in Delaware County."