Trump’s Gestapo Interrupts Work at the Bear Gulch Fire

I’ve been working on a post about this incident for the last few days and couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. Much had been said already about ICE showing up by Lake Cushman above Hoodsport, Washington and arresting firefighters who are literally trying to keep the community safe from the state’s largest, and most difficult-to-fight fires, the Bear Gulch Fire. This is the fire that earlier this summer prompted Rock Candy Running to cancel the Beast of Big Creek race. But clearly not enough had been said, as today I am reading the following posted in Stateline by Alex Brown:

Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities.

So, that’s the missing piece, right there.

I was going to write about how this move by ICE is such a perfect metaphor for this current administration’s work: cowardly, destructive, ignorant, and to top it all off actively hurting the American people.

But clearly this incident goes deeper.

Since the incident became public, the wildfire world has been abuzz with anger at that team — California Interagency Incident Management Team 7. Made up of federal, state and local fire professionals, the team was assigned to oversee the response to the Bear Gulch Fire, which has burned 9,000 acres in and around Olympic National Park in Washington state.

One firefighter who was present at the raid said he is convinced that Team 7 leaders sent their crews into a trap.

I had been following the daily video updates from the fire and had been surprised that the management had switched hands so many times in the past few weeks. I have no idea if this is normal procedure, and I have no idea if this incident had anything to do with it, but it struck me as odd even before this all became public.

Many wildfire veterans said that conducting a raid at the site of an active wildfire was reckless and irresponsible.
…
Duncan said she’s spoken with firefighters still assigned to the Bear Gulch Fire who are disgusted with the situation and want to leave.

There, that’s the work of Trump’s ICE – what an accomplishment.