Holy @$#%!!! Remember when ICE thugs arrested firefighters recently?

[Takket]

It is looking like those firefighters were set up and betrayed by their own commanders!!!!!!!! this is HORRIFIC!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.hcn.org/articles/firefighters-question-leaders-role-in-ice-raid-near-bear-gulch-fire/?utm_content=buffer38c22&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bufferapp.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Worse, many wildfire veterans believe the management team overseeing the fire crews played a key role in handing over the firefighters to immigration authorities.

Stateline spoke to nearly a dozen firefighters, agency staffers and contractors familiar with the incident, who shared their belief that the top officials assigned to the fire deployed the crews to a remote location under false pretenses so federal agents could check their immigration status. Most of them spoke privately for fear of retaliation.

The raid has reverberated among fire crews, agency leaders and contractors. Wildfire veterans say the arrests have stoked fear and distrust among firefighters on the ground. They worry that crews may be scared to deploy if they may become a target for immigration raids.

“There’s really no way [the wildfire management team] could not have been involved,” said Riva Duncan, a former wildland fire chief who served more than 30 years with the U.S. Forest Service. “We’re all talking about it. People are wondering if they go on a fire with this team, if that could happen to them.”

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Dim-witted commanders think racist immigration enforcement more important than saving homes & lives

They should be fired on that basis, i.e. ignoring the threat to homes and lives.

[Takket]

2. awfully hard to maintain trust when the people who work for you think you are trying to get them arrested

[maxsolomon]

10. These are people working for the DOI or USDA fighting forest fires. Including the commanders.

I doubt they'd be fired for cooperating with another Govt agency, namely ICE. In fact, were they not to do so, they'd be likely to be fired under this Admin.

BTW, no homes or lives are threatened by the Bear Gulch fire. Just Olympic National Park. It was started by a dipshit shooting off fireworks on the 4th of July.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Okay. "should" and "likely" address different aspects. Do you know where the fire will end when it goes out? . . . .nt

[maxsolomon]

12. It's not going out until the rain and snow put it out - November.

It will continue to burn USFS & NPS land. No structures. Biggest fire on the Olympic Peninsular since 1951. It's awful.

[KPN]

18. Not necessarily. This team is an interagency team out of California.

The IC for the team (Cal Team 7) is full time employed by a local fire agency in CA, not a federal agency as are many of the incident mgmt team members.

Your point is well taken re: federal employees fulfilling the requirements placed on them by their superiors however.

What is concerning to me about this is private contractors provide much of the hand crew workforce and these crews have increasingly been made up of hispanic fire fighters over the past 20 to 30 years in particular.

Didn’t Trump establish exceptions for immigrants working in the hotel resort industry?

[Trueblue Texan]

23. One of my daughters lives at the edge of that park. nt

[KT2000]

3. I sense that government agencies

are now part of the gestapo. They are likely assisting deportation efforts to please trump's appointees and trump - they are cowards. If they can come up with plans to get more people, maybe they will get promoted.
They lined up the Native American members of they crew so losers in bulletproof vests could stand there and look manly. Tribes have had to inform their members they need to carry papers proving their citizenship. This is all about skin color.

[Nigrum Cattus]

4. If that is true, they are all rats

Lets see some names

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. HCN High Country News rated highly for Factual Reporting

[Hekate]

5. Well, well. How very Soviet.

[pfitz59]

7. This was also reported in the Seattle Times

A more reputable source.

[chia]

8. What do you mean, "a more reputable source?"

hcn.org:

"This story was originally published by Stateline and is republished here by permission."

stateline.org:

Stateline journalists illuminate the big challenges and policy trends that cross state borders. We cover health care, education, the environment and other issues that shape our daily lives — and can be influenced by unseen forces.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, with reporting from every capital. We provide our coverage for free — no pop-ups, paywalls or ads. We encourage other digital, print and broadcast outlets to republish our content.

Our funding comes from individual contributions and institutional grants. We don’t accept corporate donations or underwriting, nor do we accept donations from foreign governments or anonymous sources.

Stateline joined States Newsroom in 2023, transitioning from its longtime home at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/stateline-bias-and-credibility/

[erronis]

9. Excerpt from Seattle Times - thanks for mentioning this

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/members-of-congress-demand-answers-after-bear-gulch-immigration-arrests/

Before the arrests, the contract fire crews had been sent to the northeast side of Lake Cushman. They had been assigned to a Community Hazard Reduction Project, cutting wood to reduce the fuel available for the fire.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed Friday that the two arrested were not technically firefighters because they were cutting wood.

“The two contracted work crews questioned on the day of their arrests were not even assigned to actively fight the fire; they were there in a support role, cutting logs into firewood,” the Friday post on X reads. “The firefighting response remained uninterrupted the entire time.”

Elected officials and those in the wildland firefighting community cast doubt on the federal government’s claim.

[haele]

13. While most firefighters I've met are generally live and let live types...

I've also met quite a few who are cynical, racist assholes who know a well organized municipal or regional fire department can be a real sweet lifetime deal for a jock that peaked in High School.
Their Union can be just as corruptly protective as the Police Officer 's Union can.

Another thing to remember; as in California, there's a lot of lesser populated Red regions in Washington that really attract the Libertarian Cowboy type, the loner Prepper types and the End Time cultist types; all three willfully ignorant conspiracy/cosplayer groups tend to lean MAGA.

I don't doubt there was one - or even three - local Team commanders who saw Tribal members and immediately thought "Illegal Cartel Criminals, call ICE before they kill us, steal our equipment, kidnap and sell our unprotected White Children and ultimately destroy 'merca" ..

[Bengus81]

14. I think this "outing" is going on everywhere. Otherwise ICE would spend 99% of their time

looking and finding nothing. This could be hate,racism,grudge anything.

[sop]

15. Why aren't these "commanders" being fired for hiring undocumented immigrants?

[Blue Full Moon]

16. Not surprised. Law enforcement and firefighters usually are MAGA

[SunSeeker]

19. Yup, even in California, firefighters and cops are majority MAGA.

The firefighters I know in California are liberals, but they tell me they are in the minority.

[tonekat]

17. Is there an equivalent of "fragging" in firefighting?

Those commanders won't win any popularity contests, I 'm sure.

[Joinfortmill]

20. Sickening. Every time I think I can't get more pissed, I learn about more skullduggery.

[SunSeeker]

21. I knew something was up when the Fire crew spokesperson insisted the arrest did not impede their firefighting efforts...

Because that was utterly horseshit. Any time you are remove crew from fighting an active fire, even if they are just support crew, you are still hampering firefighting efforts.

[BurnDoubt]

22. This IS the Deep State.

Our Government is riddled with these guys, and now, the Kraznov Junta is demanding Loyalty and fashioning their Bund.
Slow-roll insurrection right in our faces, and Leonard Leo's court is there to add their Imprimatur.
It's gonna take slot of Bleach to get rid of that Stain.