r/Firefighting • u/AngronOfTheTwelfth • 1d ago

General Discussion Border Patrol agents arrested firefighters fighting Washington wildfire after they asked the fire crew to line up to check their IDs.

Post image

What do we all think of this? Seems pretty nuts to me. They are actively getting in the way of wildlands guys as they do their job out there. I dont think this should be allowed or encouraged. Firefighting is a lot more important than .... risking 20 guys dressed exactly like firefighters crossing the Canadian border?

3.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

478 comments sorted by

View all comments

645

u/Serious_Cobbler9693 Retired FireFighter/Driver 1d ago

I'm not sure about wildland guys, but when I was a firefighter we didn't carry any ID on us or you take a chance of losing it in a burning building or when you are hanging upside down in a car that has flipped on the highway.

2

u/Creditcriminal 1d ago

Serious question, did y’all have like dog tags or bracelets or something? 

In the event that you didn’t make it out of a building.

Sorry, if that’s too morbid. 

2

u/qwerkywombat 1d ago

Yes lost dept have personnel accountability tags that are plastic or metal. Usually one on apparatus you came on, one on you, and one left at the mailbox or door / with a safety officer if they’re there already when you go interior. They’ll usually have a number on them that correlates to who you are

1

u/Serious_Cobbler9693 Retired FireFighter/Driver 1d ago

We had our badge# on all our gear but we didn't carry tags in with us. Tag was on our helmet unless we went interior then it was left with safety/command or the pump operator of the line you were on if you were fast attack before anyone else got there.