Actually nothing would have burned since there were four other fire companies in the area, but happily the fifth one is back in service after being shut down until they got rid of a Proud Boy associate they refused to can.

HAVERFORD, PA – When a fire company in this township ten miles away from failed to terminate a member for being a member of the neo-Fascist Proud Boys, the township decided that the whole fire company needed to go. On Tuesday, that fire company paved the way for its reopening after they apologized to the township and accepted the member’s resignation.

“The initial decision to refuse the resignation was a mistake,” the Bon Air Fire Company said in a statement regarding the member identified online as Lt. Bruce McClay, saying further that they intend to revise its current antidiscrimination policies so “that volunteers who engage in hate speech or join hate groups are not welcome in the Bon Air Fire Company.”

Founded in 2016, the Proud Boys is an organization that endorses in particular the marginalization of rights to women and Muslims, but has also been hostile to other races and cultures as well, even while boasting a multicultural membership. They have been associated in with White supremacists, with Jason Kessler, the main organizer of the tragic “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA in August 2017, once being a member and several Proud Boys, including current group leader Enrique Tarrio joining the militia members at the rally. Proud Boys are well-noted for their promotion of political violence, and many of their member have been convicted of orchestrating attacks on individuals who opposed them politically. McClay’s association with the Proud Boys became very obvious when an antifascist on Twitter who calls himself Anti-Fash Gordon posted pictures of McClay with other Proud Boys members wearing the yellow and black polo shirt they have become associated with and flashing the OK sign which has also been transformed into a rather hate gesture by them and other groups and individuals within neo-Fascist circles. McClay was also spotlighted on a blog called Doxx Your Local Proud Boy.

1/ This is Bruce McClay, a Lieutenant at the Bon Air Fire Company in Havertown, PA.

He’s also a member of the Proud Boys, an @splcenter-designated hate group.

You can contact the fire station via this online form: https://t.co/N6E5ebIsXe pic.twitter.com/rnbhpPptaX

— AntiFash Gordon (@AntiFashGordon) August 2, 2019

On Aug. 14, an anonymous tip was received by the township indicating McClay’s Proud Boy association. After police investigated and found he was not involved in any criminal activity, the matter went to the board of commissioners who in turn suggested McClay resign. The fire company refused his resignation, and township officials shuttered them temporarily until the matter was resolved. The community was never in any danger of not having a fire company that would service them as there were four other companies within two miles of Bon Air No. 4, including one merely a half-mile away.

The fire company noted in a statement, despite evidence showing a close association with the group to the point that he was wearing the infamous black and yellow polo shirt they are known for and that he passed two of the four initiation requirements to become a full-fledged member, which made him a second degree Proud Boy, McClay, who initially in news reports was not referred to by name, was actually never a member of “the outside organization” and that after learning more about the group, ultimately decided he didn’t want to become a part of it and disassociated himself more than a year ago. At a township council meeting last week, that was used as plausible deniability by a number of persons that were angry that although it was reinstated, the fire company was shut down in the first place. Most notable of those angry was local conservative columnist Christine Flowers who took the opportunity at the meeting to say that this was all the fault of antifa who she called “protifa” and in her words “ratted out” McClay. Later in a column, she wrote that “The commissioners didn’t like Bon Air’s decision, since they’re all about tolerance and diversity. (Even though the board is composed of nine white men — not that there’s anything wrong with that.) So they closed down the firehouse and took possession of the equipment.” She later wrote that McClay was being targeted for what some think he might do, saying that “Holding people accountable for what you think they might do would make George Orwell take notice,” an ironic note as Orwell was an outspoken supporter of democratic socialism and fought with the Spanish Marxist party POUM against fascists during the Spanish Civil War.

Flowers, who ironically once denounced conservatives who remained silent or deflected blame to liberals instead of denouncing White supremacy notably when White supremacist Richard Spencer held a conference for his National Policy Institute just weeks after Donald Trump’s election, was assailed on Twitter for her remarks at the council meeting. When she was confronted with information that one of those calling her out was herself a target of the Proud Boys, her response what that it wasn’t her concern as she did not know the person. Flowers’ Twitter account has since been deleted, again ironically saying in on a Facebook post that she deactivated it because she and her family has been harassed.

Good morning to everyone except Christine Flowers, the nazi-defending @PhillyInquirer columnist who claimed I was “triggering” leftist violence against her family after she got in trouble for threatening me, & who is now platforming “lock and load” murder threats against me/”us” pic.twitter.com/RQegEL7l6p

— Gwen Snyder is uncivil (@gwensnyderPHL) September 13, 2019

Here’s “journalist” Christine Flowers apparently working to incite a right wing extremist politician against me in retaliation for my criticism of her testimony in defense of nazis.

He’s cheered on folks who suggested they might shoot me or my loved ones before. #fireflowers pic.twitter.com/qDTXwAUxg8

— Gwen Snyder is uncivil (@gwensnyderPHL) September 12, 2019

Flowers never uttered a word about getting street harassed by “leftists” until she got in trouble for libelling and threatening those who criticized her testimony in defense of nazi Proud Boys.

A couple hours after I tweet at her bosses, she tells this sad tale?

BULLSHIT. https://t.co/dzIjNe3WD6

— Gwen Snyder is uncivil (@gwensnyderPHL) September 12, 2019

Not to downplay the seriousness of Christine Flowers’ actions against me, but

I would just like to point out that as a result of her latest attempt at owning me, her Facebook profile image is now a picture of her dressed up as literally a syphilitic French prostitute https://t.co/RXAKzKuMz0 pic.twitter.com/qLjwYpB9sQ

— Gwen Snyder is uncivil (@gwensnyderPHL) September 13, 2019

The Proud Boys Bitchute account features uploads of videos of the support for McClary at the council meeting, including that of Flowers.