Southern Utah Firefighter’s Lawsuit Is Eye-Opening On Race Issues

Southern Utah is once again the location of a racial discrimination discussion, this time involving a respected position; a firefighter.  

Last year, a mom in Southern Utah spoke on the struggles of racial discrimination involving two biracial minors. The issue can start as early as childhood and now is showing up once again in a professional field.  

A firefighter who previously worked for Cedar Mountain is in the middle of a lawsuit over being fired for alleged racial discrimination, the Salt Lake Tribune said. Corey Turner began working for Kane County in February 2021 and was fired in May of 2023 by Cedar Mountain Forest Chief Forrest Barnard.  

The beginning of the issue was when a video of Turner in uniform and another man had a verbal altercation which was sent to board members, the Salt Lake Tribune said. This included Suzy Polnisch and County Commissioner Wade Heaton. 

According to the lawsuit and SLT, once Polnisch saw the video she told previous fire chief Chris Rieffer to fire Turner. All she saw “was an ‘angry black man’ and [she] stated that Mr. Turner ‘did not represent the District.”  

A new fire chief was instated once the board bought out Rieffer’s contract, the SLT said. Rieffer had refused to fire Turner, and so Chad Poulsen was hired in 2022. He lasted less than a year in the position.  

“I spent my whole time as chief trying to protect Turner,” Poulsen said. “I was obviously willing to die on that hill, which was what I ended up doing.” 

After Poulsen’s position was opened, there were three finalists who qualified to fill it; Barnard, Turner, and Deputy Chief Holly Wright, the SLT said.  

According to the lawsuit and SLT, during Turner’s final interview, Polnisch said, “You clean up well. I didn’t know someone like you was this educated and articulate.” 

Turner is looking to get compensation for being fired and get back legal costs for the lawsuit. 

This isn’t the first Southern Utah has had issues with discrimination. Earlier this year there was a black face scare at a high school sports game. There have also been incidents of black face in previous year around Halloween.