WASHINGTON, D.C. – Wildland fire veterans are seething at a claim made by federal officials that two crews raided by immigration agents at the scene of a wildfire in Washington state were “NOT firefighters.”

Many political figures and media outlets have repeated the claim, even though public documents show the crews have firefighting classifications and were assigned to key frontline roles battling the blaze.

“Everybody in the profession sees through it, but the public doesn’t and that’s concerning,” said Riva Duncan, a former wildland fire chief who served more than 30 years with the U.S. Forest Service. “It’s a lie. Everybody I’ve talked to is very upset about it. It does not just those two crews a disservice, but it does all firefighters a disservice.”

Duncan also serves as vice president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of wildfire professionals.

Last week, federal immigration officials staged a raid at the site of the Bear Gulch fire in Washington, the largest active wildfire in the state. Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection questioned two crews, totaling 44 members, and arrested two firefighters who they said were in the country illegally.

News of the operation rocked the wildland fire community. Veterans in the profession say the raid broke with longstanding protocol that immigration agents don’t disrupt responders on the scene of emergencies.

On Aug. 29, two days after the raid, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted a message on social media platform X, attacking the “mainstream media” for spreading “fake news.”

“The two illegal aliens apprehended were NOT firefighters,” the post read. “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 firefighting response remained uninterrupted the entire time.”

Many news outlets ran stories that the agency had “clarified” the role of the crews or “denied” reports that firefighters had been arrested. In subsequent coverage, some news outlets have characterized the crews as playing a supporting role, while avoiding the term “firefighters.”

Political figures have also repeated the claim from DHS. State Rep. Jim Walsh, chair of the Washington State Republican Party, shared another user’s post on Facebook blasting the media for failing to report the truth. The crews, Walsh wrote in his own comments, were “NOT firefighters.” The post has been shared hundreds of times.

“Facts matter,” Walsh wrote. “But the Left doesn’t let facts get in the way of its ignorant sanctimony and virtue signaling.”

But the facts clearly show that the crews were firefighters. In planning documents drafted by the management team overseeing the fire and posted to a public federal database, the crew from contracting company ASI Arden Solutions, Inc., is listed as a “CR2I” crew. That’s shorthand for a Type II Initial Attack wildland firefighting crew.

“They’re just one level below a hotshot crew,” Duncan said. “[Saying they’re not firefighters] is incredibly insulting to them.”

The other crew, from contracting company Table Rock Forestry, Inc., is listed as a “CRW2,” short for a Type II wildland firefighting hand crew. That means both crews were certified under National Wildfire Coordinating Group standards as firefighters who met rigorous qualifications and held “red cards” verifying their status to fight fire.

Additionally, the documents show that both crews were assigned to active firefighting roles in the days leading up to the raid. The crews were tasked with securing the fire edge, protecting structures, constructing fire lines and addressing hazards caused by the initial suppression work.

Many wildfire veterans who have served in similar roles privately expressed anger that the crew’s status was called into question because they had been assigned to cut firewood on the day of the raid. That frustration is heightened by the widespread belief, shared by many fire professionals, that the crews were given that assignment under false pretenses to lead them into contact with federal immigration agents.

“They were doing suppression work, and it was only when they were reassigned that day [that they were raided],” Duncan said. “To paint this picture that they would never do that to actual firefighters, it’s total spin.”

Even if the firewood cutting assignment had been legitimate, Duncan said, many firefighters perform critical support roles that don’t involve actively battling the blaze. To deny their status as firefighters based on their assignment that day, she said, would be like discrediting a local fire department because they were working out in the fire station.

Many wildfire veterans, including Duncan, said they are demoralized by how quickly the claim has spread.

“The fact that some are picking this up without doing due diligence, it’s lazy and insulting to the firefighters,” she said. “It’s really affecting the morale of the workforce to hear those things being echoed in media outlets.”

Stateline reporter Alex Brown can be reached at abrown@stateline.org.

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