Nine white firefighters with the New York City Fire Department have been suspended without pay for periods of up to six months after revelations that they shared racist messages on social media and with one another.

One of the firefighters was just about done with his suspension and will leave the FDNY, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro told The New York Times. 

Online, the white firefighters discussed turning firehoses on Black protesters after the May 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis. The firefighters also debated whether firehoses would be effective because “wild animals like water.”

The department levied what it calls its most severe punishments in history after Black firefighters complained to the brass.

“At first, it feels like you’re part of something,” said Kareem Charles, who left the FDNY in December, “ … and then it feels like sort of a lie.”