||| FROM WAYNE FOURNIER, THURSTON COUNTY COMMISSIONER |||
Thurston County Commissioner Wayne Fournier, a longtime firefighter, issued a statement Wednesday concerning the recent immigration arrests at the Bear Gulch Fire:
“What happened at the Bear Gulch Fire was not routine, and we should not pretend it was. I have spent nearly 30 years in the fire service, much of that time on wildland campaigns: sleeping on the ground for weeks at a time, moving from fire to fire, and working shoulder to shoulder with every kind of responder. On large incidents like Bear Gulch, personnel come from all over the world. Anyone who has been there knows it is not just hose teams. Fire camp operates like a small city, staffed by heavy equipment operators, medics, mechanics, cooks, and contract fire crews. These individuals are all red card certified to fight wildfires, all play a critical role in the response, and all are firefighters.
“To say that bucking logs or clearing brush is not firefighting shows a fundamental misunderstanding of wildland fire operations. Removing vegetation protects structures, widens fire lines, and improves access. This work is not just part of the job; it is essential to the mission. That is why what happened next was completely unacceptable. When CBP agents entered the Bear Gulch fire zone and detained personnel without coordination, without justification, and without identifying themselves, it created a dangerous disruption to critical emergency operations.
“The claim that these responders ‘were not real firefighters’ is either the result of willful ignorance or a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. I believe it is the latter. Even more troubling is that the federal agency defending this action, the Bureau of Land Management, has no jurisdiction in Bear Gulch. The nearest BLM-managed lands are hundreds of miles away in the San Juan Islands. Their press release read more like public relations spin than a serious explanation. Meanwhile, the state’s Incident Management Team, which is actually responsible for running the fire response, has yet to issue a public statement.
“Scrutiny of CBP and ICE has occurred under every president, regardless of party. This is not about politics. It is about public safety. These agencies have long histories of civil liberties violations. When they operate in active emergency zones, transparency and accountability are not optional; they are essential.
“That is why today I introduced a local ordinance: Emergency Responder Protection and Enforcement Coordination Act. This ordinance will 1) designate active emergency operations as Non-Interference Zones, 2) require federal law enforcement to coordinate with the designated Incident Commander before taking any action, and 3) guarantee due process and ID protections for all responders, regardless of background or employment status.
“The Thurston County Board approved sending this ordinance to our legal team for review before final adoption in the coming weeks. I am grateful to my fellow commissioners who are supporting this importance ordinance proposal.
“We would not tolerate this kind of interference from private citizens or out-of-state officials. We must hold the federal government to the same standard, if not a higher one. Emergency scenes are already hazardous. Jurisdictional overreach only adds confusion, causes delays, and increases risk to life and property. This is not about ideology or partisanship. It is about safety, professionalism, and protecting the integrity of our emergency response system.
“The alarm is sounding, not just about fire, but about federal overreach. Let us respond with clarity, courage, and a firm commitment to protect those who protect us.”
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This is one of the incidents and reasons that Steve Bernheim and I have been urging islanders to demonstrate in front of the CBP offices in Friday Harbor, but the Invisible San Juan Islands group prefers to hold its feel-good, anodyne socials at the County Court House.
As I understand it, for the time being, the San Juan Island indivisible protest group (ISJI) plans to “advise the local Border Patrol that ISJI does not endorse any protests near their offices” because ISJI “works very hard to collaborate with our town officials [sic], which is why they in turn work well with us. If there is ever a time for collaboration; it’s now.”
We are grateful — though skeptical— that local immigration officials “work well” with ISJI but against a backdrop of History, let us continue to ponder together what is the purpose of protesting authoritarian abuse in our former paradise.
“Even more troubling is that the federal agency defending this action, the Bureau of Land Management, has no jurisdiction in Bear Gulch. The nearest BLM-managed lands are hundreds of miles away in the San Juan Islands.”
How reassuring… not.
As a former federal wildfire official with the National Park Service it is easy to be outraged by this unannounced ICE action in an active overhead team fire camp at the Bear Gulch Fire. But it is also easy to understand how MJ is confused by the incredibly complex national wildfire response organization. It is an alphabet soup of agencies all the way up to the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture and Congress.
Once a wildfire grows past initial attack on federal public lands various levels of suppression response come from the Bureau of Land Management centered National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. Hence the reference to BLM Fire overhead decisions in this deplorable incident are not affiliated with BLM public land management.
Thank you for the clarification Steve. Perhaps the author, Thurston County Commissioner Wayne Fournier, a longtime firefighter himself, is misrepresenting the issue… I was only quoting him.
And somewhat like yourself, I’m one that has lived and worked a portion of my life in the backcountry (in SW Colorado). As a former back-country guide, tree planter, and wildland firefighter I’m well aware of the federal incident response mechanism and its multi-agency cooperation. It is my opinion that the narrative playing out under the guise of “management” that the BLM and other associated federal agencies are performing in our Natl. Forests and public lands with their for-profit, multi-faceted, land use approach (extraction, tourism, grazing, roadbuilding, etc.)… is akin to genocide.
That is, when you kill our forests… you’re killing and displacing all species.