Steve Quayle Alert
DAVE,
My son-in-law is a wild land firefighter based in Chelan, WA. As I’m sure you are aware the fires in Washington are some of the worst in the nation right now. I spoke with him last night after he came off of a 20 day shift. He has been battling the Wolverine fire which lies in a very remote part of the county only accessible by Boat or Helicopter. This is the same remote area that the U.S. Army Airborne division has been using to practice helicopter mountain training. (https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2015/jul/06/army-considers-helicopter-training-in-ncw/) While battling the fire and establishing fie lines around Holden Village, he and his crew came upon two Blackhawk helicopters on the ground in a remote part of the forest. He said that soldiers drew their weapons on his US Forest service fire crew and told them they couldn’t be in the area because it was a restricted Military zone. He said all of the soldiers were in US Army uniforms, but two of them appeared to be Russian (wearing US Army uniforms) and in his opinion the Russian soldiers seemed to be in charge. My son-in-law challenged the soldiers stating they were there to save structures threatened by the fire and they would continue to do their job, at which point all the rifles in the company pointed at him. At this point he said he actually felt threatened for his life and he and his crew retreated going around the helicopter crew. This led to a discussion as to whether or not the US Army had been involved in possibly starting the fires which now burn approximately 135,000 acres.
Aug 30, 2015
