"Let me show you somethin'!"
Posted on 12/23/2021 10:21:08 PM PST by Impala64ssa
Ten out of 13 members of the Prairie Du Pont Volunteer Fire Department quit at a fire district board meeting on Monday night after a convicted arsonist was appointed acting fire chief.
The Prairie Du Pont Volunteer Fire Protection District Board of Trustees met in East Carondelet on Dec. 20 and fired Prairie Du Pont Volunteer Fire Chief John Rosencranz, KTVI reported.
The board gave no reason for the termination as they replaced Chief Rosencranz with Prairie Du Pont Volunteer Fire Assistant Chief Jerame Simmons, who was sitting at the same table.
In a statement released after the meeting on the fire department’s official Facebook page, the board of trustees simply said it had become apparent “over the last several months that a change in the Fire Department’s leadership is needed.”
But their choice to replace the popular Chief Rosencranz quickly became a huge problem.
Simmons is the son of Herb Simmons, the long-time director of the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency, KTVI reported.
But 20 years ago, he pleaded guilty to arson after setting fire to a vacant home and setting a small fire in Dupo High School.
Simmons was 18 when he set the fires, and he told KTVI that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has since pardoned him.
But that’s not good enough for the firefighters on the department that he will be heading and some members of the community he will serve.
“It’s a pardon. Still, the town remembers the school being set on fire,” former Prairie Du Pont Volunteer Fire Captain Laura Rosencranz, who is also the wife of the now-former chief, told KTVI.
“The town remembers the house set on fire where we had firefighters fall and be injured,” Laura Rosencranz added.
A soon as the board appointed Simmons to acting chief, firefighters rose from their seats and began turning in gear right in the meeting room along with their resignations, FOX News reported.
By the time the meeting had ended, 10 of the 13 firefighters on the department had submitted their resignations.
“I think it’s appalling and disgusting,” the now-former Chief Rosencranz said. “We’re not going to have the adequate protection here. It’s not going to be as it should be here. I’m kind of blindsided but not. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect it to be a couple of days before Christmas.”
Fire chiefs from neighboring departments have said they will step in to fill the gap left by the mass resignation if needed, FOX News reported.
Jerame?
And his daddy is part of the county power structure. Reno, thou dost protest too much.
"Let me show you somethin'!"
Wait! What? Is this the Bee? Satire, right?
As Rush would say, “You can’t make this up, folks.”
I wish those who post these stories would indicate the STATE in which these events take place. Many of us do not know in which STATE the events took place just by reading a town name. Just use the two-letter, postal abbreviation for the state (IL, for example).
The fact that 10 out of their 13 firefighters quit on the spot as soon as they appointed this guy is a good indicator that he does not have the support of the rank and file. He was thus an extremely poor choice as leader.
Per the NY Post article:
“Simmons, 38, pleaded guilty to arson when he was 18 after setting fire to a vacant home, then another small blaze at a high school, for which he served probation”
“Volunteers who stepped down released a statement Wednesday via Facebook, accusing the board of violating the Open Meetings Act of Illinois when they previously elevated Simmons to assistant chief behind closed doors, without a vote, on Aug. 26.”
Never mentioned if restitution was paid.
Per the picture of the house he set on fire it was not a “small fire.”
The guy gets a pass because he is politically connected?
He was an adult at the time he set the fires. He only got probation. It does not mention restitution.
It does not mention the political connections between the father and the other chiefs who offered support.
It definitely smells and should be investigated.
State is the Land of Stink’in
Makes sense. The guy just likes to be around fires.
In principle, somewhat analogous to the storyline of the “Dexter” TV series.
No.
There are too many a accounts of arsonists who become firefighters and still set fires just so they can go on the call and put them out.
A convicted arsonist should never be allowed in any firefighting position any more than a convicted pedophile be allowed to teach.
Some professions should be closed to those with certain criminal proclivities.
Sucks to be them but they made their bed and it is simply not worth the risk to others around them to pander to a known criminal just to prove how nice and “forgiving” we are. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Yea straight up nepotism appointment is giving the the guy a break...
Or you are just adding made up things to the story.
“Were there no other qualified candidates?”
Admittedly, I gave this a quick read. However, I gather there wasn’t a good reason to replace the man who was in the office.
Having been in the position of needing a replacement in a large department, if you can’t promote from within, there had better be a good reason. If you don’t promote from within you run the risk of people thinking, “I’m never going anywhere here. It’s time to look for other employment.”
When I became a manager the first thing I did was start training my replacement. By the time I left there were several good candidates for my seat. (The company collapsed after I left but for other reasons. The people I trained went on to other, better jobs.)
This looked like pure politics and it backfired bigtime.
He got to be assistant Chief because of his Fathers pull.
Now, the demon seed is acting Chief.
Cannot fault the ten who quit.
Who wants to put their life on the line following an imbeciles orders
Reno is a lot of things, but an Antifa troll is not one of them.
Why was this guy serving as a volunteer fireman for the same town if he was still an arsonist?
Those 10 people that resigned all had to know he had been convicted of arson as an 18 year old kid and served in the FIRE DEPARTMENT along side of him for years.
In this little piss ant town, everyone knows who is screwing everyone else, so don't pretend that this guy's background was unknown, and came as a shock to this fire department.
13 people in the whole damn department?
10 of them quit, why, didn't they go side by side with this guy putting out the one brush fire they had in the last 20 years?
This ain't the NYPD where they have thousands of people and no one knows who is one the second shift.
Pogo,,the opossum, said, “We have met the enemy, and he are us.
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