r/Firefighting • u/AngronOfTheTwelfth • 2d ago

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

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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?

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u/salami_williams 2d ago

Has the IAFF responded to this?

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u/Throwaway118585 1d ago

Why would they… this is private non unionized wildland crews. IAFF predominantly represents structural firefighters and wildland crews associated with structural departments.

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u/salami_williams 1d ago

To my understanding it’s common for crews to be working in the same area, public employees and private contractors. So, 1: are there union members involved? And, 2: Regardless, the IAFF needs to get ahead of this and prepare for this to escalate. Because it’s going to. They will continue to push and push and push until they meet resistance.

It’ll be interesting to see how much of a brotherhood this really is when the feds start asking for papers on scene or at the house.

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u/Throwaway118585 1d ago

Most of wildland firefighters are not covered by the IAFF (both public and private) so likely they’re not even near this fire. Besides this isn’t about brotherhood, it’s about representation and jurisdiction.