"At least two people were killed in Idaho on Sunday afternoon after firefighters were ambushed in a sniper attack as they responded to a fire call in a rugged mountain area, the authorities said.
Law enforcement agencies near Coeur d’Alene scrambled to evacuate the area — popular for weekend hikers — while trying to subdue what might be multiple attackers who were still firing shots at emergency workers.
“We are actively taking sniper fire as we speak,” said Sheriff Robert Norris of Kootenai County in an afternoon news conference around 4:30 p.m. He was unsure how many people had been hit by gunfire but that he believed the two people killed were firefighters."
I don’t know much about Idaho. There’s Potatoes, crazy preppers, and the poor refugees from South Africa What the hell?
CDA is a fine tourist town, beautiful and with some great resorts, but the rural areas around it are infested with white supremacist militias and similar types. The Aryan Nation headquarters used to be located nearby. I would bet very good money that some of those types are behind this.
Haha, that’s a good one. I’m not stating it as a fact, but it would be my bet based on experience in Idaho. And the CDA area as a haven for white nationalists is a fact.
This is pretty much what went through my mind, mostly because of things my sister in northern Nevada has told me over the years. But still, what kind of reprobate shoots at firefighters?
Was the fire set deliberately to bring the targets out? That still leaves their “backyard” on fire. What if the fire wasn’t deliberate; what do these assholes do in emergencies? Is firefighting one of the things they learn in Nutjob Terrorist School?
First redneck: hey, why don’t we go start a wild fire, and then shoot the firemen?
Second redneck: sure, that looks like fun. (pause) And after, you wouldn’t shoot me, to throw the police off your trail?
First redneck: I would NEVER do that? What sort of person do you think I am?
Second redneck: Right, sorry. Let’s do it!
CNN’s live updates tracker (not going to link because it won’t stay the same) is saying the murderer intentionally set the brush fire that drew firefighters to the scene.
I’ve added a breaking news tag. Please treat this as a breaking news thread from now on. If you also want a place to speculate about political motives, etc , please start a second thread.
The ‘standard’ fire gear that you’re probably thinking of is designed for thermal protection. Probably about as good at stopping a bullet as what you’d wear on a frigid winter day, meaning it’ll take a little bit of velocity off greater than if you were just wearing a t-shirt but nearly enough to stop a bullet, that’s also assuming it was zipped up (gear is heavy & hot, don’t necessarily need to be fully zipped up until you need it to be if you’re going in) & that it wasn’t a head shot.
Woodland fire gear is more like what one would wear to hike on a Spring/Fall day - long pants & long sleeves, a rescue helmet, which looks much like what a kayaker or rock climber may wear (okay, that random internet photo looks more like phone co helmets but still not a traditional fire helmet) & more like hiking boots as they potentially need to walk quite a distance to get into the fire & then doing lots of manual effort. A lot of what they do is to create fire breaks (rake/turn over the soil so there is no fuel for the fire to continue to burn) rather than pour tons & tons of water on it like happens with a building fire.
Where I am (greater suburbia) a large woods/field fire would be the exception; therefore, we don’t have specific gear for it but would fight it without wearing our turnout coats as we don’t need the thermal protection on warmth on a summer day; in fact it would be dangerous as it would cause overheating. I don’t know anything about the specifics of what they wear/their policies at the dept in ID.
What the hell?