In a move that Trumpians everywhere will envy, a town in Illinois named a convicted arsonist to be the town’s fire chief, prompting the majority of the town’s 11 person volunteer firefighters to resign in protest, the Washington Post reports.
In a sudden and unexplained move, the Prairie Du Pont Fire Protection District’s board of trustees voted to remove Chief John Rosenkranz, who headed the department for four years and has served for nearly two decades.
The board put assistant chief Jerame Simmons in charge, prompting Laura Rosenkranz, the chief’s wife and a captain in the department, to resign her position, as did nine other members of the 13 person crew. Simmons was convicted of two counts of arson in 1999, when he was an 18-year-old, for burning ceiling tiles at his high school and setting a house ablaze. He was later pardoned by Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker. Simmons’ father, Herb Simmons, is now the director of the county’s emergency management agency.
“This community deserves better,” said Laura Rosenkranz. “I’ve had tears, I’ve had emotions of all kinds today because it’s not what I wanted. My family lives here, but none of us feel safe working under this man.”