A Pennsylvania fire department closed for failing to deal with the relations of a boy volunteer with Proud Boys

A Pennsylvania fire department was closed Wednesday by city officials after company officials refused to answer that one of the volunteer firefighters was a member of the extremist Proud Boys group.

Officials from Haverford Township, in Delaware County, were informed on August 12 that a volunteer from the Bon Air Fire Company was affiliated with "a qualified organization of extremists," wrote the director of the Township, David Burman, in a statement released Thursday.

The township immediately launched an investigation into the allegations, which included an interview with the volunteer, who admitted that he was involved in the Proud Boys, Burman said. The volunteer revealed that he had attended social gatherings organized by the group and that he had gone through two of the four stages of initiation of the group "which includes hazing".

Burman's statement cites the group's "self-proclaimed core principle," published on its website, which states that they are "Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for having created the modern world ". The proclamation belongs to the Proud Boys, "known for their anti-Muslim character and misogynistic rhetoric," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which names them as a hate group. Transgender women and men are not allowed in the group.

While the volunteer "indicated that he had been trying to stand out from the group over the past few months," Burman and a police officer met with officials of the Bon Air Fire Company on Aug. 14 to discuss " the seriousness of this case and urge the fire company to it. "

Burman said that he was informed the next day that the volunteer had offered his resignation, but that the head of the company Bon Air Fire Company had refused to accept it. A week later, Burman said he received an email stating that the fire company's board had "found no reason to terminate the volunteer's membership."