PORT ANGELES, Wash.—Since the August 27 Border Patrol raid on the firefighter crew battling the “Bear Gulch” forest fire, the inferno has nearly doubled to 18,500 acres, the worst forest fire in Washington State. It has already incinerated millions of board-feet of Douglas fir, spruce, and hemlock timber in the Olympic National Forest.
The Border Patrol agents, based here in Port Angeles, heavily armed but without identification, arrived unannounced, halted the work of the fire crew to check their papers. They arrested two contract workers, claiming they are in the U.S. illegally. The arrests stirred outrage and widespread protests, from Oregon lawmakers to Gov. Bob Ferguson to Thurston County Commissioner Wayne Fornier, a veteran of 30 years as a forest firefighter. Fornier introduced a Thurston County Ordinance forbidding Federal officers or any other “out-of-state” agents from interfering in the work of emergency crews working to extinguish fires.
One of the two firefighters, Rigoberto Hernandez Hernandez, a resident of Oregon protected by a U-Visa, which he obtained in 2017, has filed a lawsuit charging that his arrest and detention is a violation of his basic rights and demanding his immediate release. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley, both Oregon Democrats, and four members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued a statement, “It is outrageous for the Trump Administration to trample on the due process rights of emergency responders who put their lives on the line to protect Oregonians safety.”
Speaking at the Clallam County Democrats’ Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt luncheon, Sept. 6, Gov. Ferguson denounced the Border Patrol arrests.
Ferguson told the capacity crowd that a law is on the books in Washington State that forbids the State Patrol, county sheriffs, or local law enforcement from assisting ICE, the Border Patrol, or any other Federal agents in the arrest or deportation of immigrants or anybody else.
He said he received a letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi threatening to arrest him if he refuses to assist in President Trump’s roundup and deportation without due process of millions of immigrants, including tens of thousands of firefighters, farm workers, and health care workers in Washington State. Ferguson said he was furious when he read this threatening letter and wrote an angry response: He would not be “bullied or intimidated” either by Bondi or her boss, Trump, he told the crowd. He will continue to enforce the laws of Washington State. The crowd greeted his blast with a thunderous standing ovation.
The Chronicle, a Thurston County newspaper, printed in full the statement by Thurston County Commissioner Wayne Fornier: “What happened to the Bear Gulch fire was not routine, and we should not pretend it was. I have spent nearly thirty 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, 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 those 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.”
Fornier’s wording that the fire crews come “from all over the world,” that they fight “shoulder to shoulder” with anyone fighting the fire, resonated with people who love the forests. It is well known that the fire crews include prison inmates, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and whites, who are released from jail to join in fighting the fires. Years ago, motorists driving on Highway 101 anywhere near a forest fire could be stopped, deputized, and ordered to join in fighting forest fires—no questions asked, no papers required.
Fornier reacted angrily to a statement by Trump’s Homeland Security Department that the men arrested were “splitting firewood,” not fighting the wildfire. Said Fornier, “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 so completely unacceptable.”
When the Border Patrol agents entered the Bear Gulch fire zone and detained personnel, Fornier continued, it was “without coordination, without justification and without identifying themselves…” He charged that this raid “created a dangerous situation to critical emergency operators…Their 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 the latter. Even more troublesome is that the Federal agency defending the action, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 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….”
He warned that both the Border Patrol and ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) have long records of violation of civil liberties and should both be subject to oversight. “This is not about politics. It is about public safety,” he said.
Fornier has introduced an ordinance, “Emergency Responder Protection and Enforcement Coordination Act,” which he explained will “designate active emergency operations as Non-Interference Zones” and requires Federal law enforcement to coordinate with the designated Incident Commander before taking any action, including halting firefighting crews and inspecting their papers.
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