Firefighters from Wildland are waiting for the helicopter ferry, fighting with Fire Bear Gulch, Washington. (Photo Bear Gulch Fire 2025 via Facebook)
Wildland Fire Veterans is bursting with the claim of federal officials that two crews attacked by immigration agents at the Washington fire in the state of Washington were “not firefighters”.
Many political characters and the media repeated this claim, despite the fact that public documents show that the crews have fire classifications and were assigned to the key roles of the first line fighting with fire.
“Everyone in the profession sees it, but the society does not and this concerns,” said Riva Duncan, former head of Fire Wildland, who served over 30 years in the US Forest Service. “This is a lie. Everyone I talked to are very nervous about it. It’s not only these two crews are harm, but all firefighters are harm.”
Duncan also serves as the Vice President for Filit Firefighters Wildland, a non -profit organization, which is on behalf of fires specialists.
Last week, federal immigration officials issued a raid at Bear Gulch Fire in Washington, the biggest vigorous fire in this state. Agents with American goals and the protection of borders questioned two crews, a total of 44 members, and arrested two firefighters, about whom they said they were illegally in the country.
The news about the operation shook the Wildland fires community. Veterans in the profession claim that the raid broke with a long -term protocol, that immigration agents do not interfere with the respondents at the site of crisis situations.
On August 29, two days after the raid, the United States Internal Security Department published a message on the Social Media platform X, attacking “Main Media Media” to distribute “false messages”.
“Two illegal strangers were not firefighters,” we read in the post. “Two contracted work crews challenged on the day of their arrests were not even assigned to an active fight against fire; they were in the role of support, cutting the logs into heating wood. The response to the fire brigade remained uninterrupted all the time.”
Many information services contained stories that the agency “explained” the role of crews or “refused” reports that firefighters were arrested. In the next range, some information services characterized the crews as a supporting role, avoiding the term “firefighters”.
Political data also repeated the DHS claim. A representative of the state of Jim Walsh, chairman of the Republican Party in Washington, released a post on Facebook of another user, blowing up the media for not reporting the truth. Crews, Walsh wrote in his own comments, they were “not firefighters.” The post has been made available hundreds of times.
“The facts matter,” Walsh wrote. “But the left does not allow the facts to interfere with her ignorant temple and virtue signaling.”
But the facts clearly show that the crews were firefighters. When planning documents developed by the management team supervising the fire and published in a public federal database, a crew from Asi Arden Solutions, Inc. It is mentioned as the crew of “CR2i”. This is a shortcut to the initial fire type II.
“They are only one level below the Hotshot crew,” said Duncan. “[Saying they’re not firefighters] He is extremely offensive to them. “
The second crew, from Table Rock Forestry, Inc., is mentioned as “CRW2”, shortened to the Hand II Wildland Fire Gaining crew. This means that both crews were certifiedER National Wildfire Korterination Group Standards as firefighters who met strict qualifications and had “red cards”, verifying their status to fight fire.
In addition, the documents show that both crews were assigned to vigorous fire roles in the days preceding the raid. The crews were to protect the edge of the fire, protect structures, construct fire lines and a solution to threats caused by initial damping works.
Many Wildfire veterans who played a similar role in private expressed anger that the crew status was questioned because they were assigned to cut out firewood on the day of the raid. This frustration is increased by the widespread belief, shared by many fire brigade specialists, that the crews received a task under false appearances to lead them to contact with federal immigration agents.
“They did a damping work and only when they were assigned again [that they were raided]Duncan said. “To paint this picture that they would never do this to actual firefighters, it is total turnover.”
Duncan said that even if the task of cutting heating wood was justified, many firefighters play critical roles of support that do not require vigorous fire fighting. She said that in order to deny their firefighters on the basis of their task that day, it would be like a discredit of the local fire brigade because they worked at the fire brigades.
Many Wildfire veterans, including Duncan, said they were demoralized by how quickly the claim spread.
“The fact that some raise it without due diligence is lazy and offensive to firefighters,” she said. “It really affects the morale of the labor force to hear how these things have been repeated in the media.”
Reporter Stateline Alex Brown can be achieved at abzek@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by Statlinewhich is part of StatesRoom, non -information information, which includes the Ohio Capital Journal, and is supported by subsidies and coalition of donors as 501C (3) public charity.
