HOUSTON -- A Houston Fire Department cadet has been thrown out of the academy after he allegedly made a noose during a training class, KPRC Local 2 reported Friday.

Houston Fire Department Executive Assistant Chief Rick Flanagan said the cadet tied the noose around a Gatorade bottle during a class at the training academy on Braniff Street in February.

"I think this was an isolated case, but we responded quickly, we addressed the matter and the cadet was dismissed from the department," Flanagan said. "According to our code of conduct, that's an infraction."

Carol Mims Galloway, the NAACP president, said nooses are not a joke.

"It just opens up old wounds in the African-American community," she said. "It sends the message out that hatred still exists in this era and I don't know when we're going to eradicate the hate among the different races."

Mims Galloway said she was surprised that a city employee was behind the noose incident.

"It does show that we need to do more corrective moves as far as sensitivity," she said.

The cadet's name was not released.

Several nooses have been found at area businesses and a school in recent months.

Four people were accused of hanging nooses in two separate incidents at FMC Technologies on Gears Road in late 2007. Another noose was found tied to a piping system at Chevron Phillips Chemical's Pasadena Plastics Complex in December.

Two Pearland High School students were charged with disorderly conduct after they allegedly hung a noose from a band tower in the school's parking lot in November.

Hanging a noose can be considered a hate crime if it is used to intimidate others.