Federal immigration authorities conducted an operation at the Bear Gulch fire and arrested two members of a contract firefighting crew while they were responding. The Bear Gulch fire burned nearly 9,000 acres in the Olympic National Forest and remains the largest active fire in the state. The identities of the detained firefighters have not been released, and federal immigration officials have not provided reasons for the arrests. Senator Patty Murray demanded information on the firefighters' whereabouts and the administration's immigration enforcement policy during wildfires. Murray criticized the administration for immigration actions and for budget and staffing cuts to the Forest Service, saying those cuts left agencies unprepared and that detaining firefighters on duty is dangerous and immoral.
Federal immigration authorities on Wednesday staged an operation on the scene of the Bear Gulch fire, a nearly 9,000-acre (3,600-hectare) blaze in the Olympic national forest, where they arrested two people who were part of a contract firefighting crew, the Seattle Times first reported. The fire is the largest currently burning in the state. The identities of the firefighters have not been made public and federal immigration officials have not said why they were arrested.
Here in the Pacific north-west, wildfires can [burn] and have burned entire towns to the ground. We count on our brave firefighters, who put their lives on the line, to keep our communities safe this new Republican policy to detain firefighters on the job is as immoral as it is dangerous, said Murray, who has represented Washington in the US Senate since 1993.
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