SEATTLE — Fifty members of Congress, including several Washington Democrats, are calling on the Department of Homeland Security for answers after two crew members fighting the Bear Gulch fire were arrested by immigration officials.

Two people fighting the fire on the Olympic Peninsula were arrested by federal law enforcement Wednesday, as depicted in photos and videos. The two firefighters had entered the U.S. illegally, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday in a news release.

The 9,200-acre wildfire is one of Washington’s largest. The crews, pictured wearing protective clothing and hard hats common on fire lines, were part of the 300-person effort to contain the fire, which started July 6 about 10 miles northwest of Hoodsport, Mason County.

The arrests received swift backlash from elected leaders across the Northwest and nationwide.

Fifty members of Congress questioned the action in a letter Friday to DHS, CBP and the Bureau of Land Management.

“The two arrests and dozens of firefighters temporarily sidelined during an active wildfire raise questions about the priorities and (judgment) exercised by federal agencies,” reads the letter, spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Wash. Randall’s congressional district includes the Olympic Peninsula, where the fire is burning.

The lawmakers specifically seek clarification on Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies regarding arrests in disaster areas. The letter claims standard emergency protocols “shield first responders” who are working in hazardous conditions from ICE. The lawmakers say those protocols weren’t followed.

“The arrest of these hardworking crew members, who put their lives on the line to perform lifesaving duties, is not making our communities safer, no matter the rhetoric you use on TV,” the lawmakers said. “The Trump Administration’s thoughtless and cruel immigration enforcement at any cost undermines coordinated emergency response efforts.”

Federal agents checked the immigration status of firefighters on the active wildfire in a remote location. The agents identified two people who were in the U.S. illegally, a DHS release said, and took them to a detention facility.

Before the arrests, contract fire crews were sent to the northeast side of Lake Cushman. They had been assigned to a Community Hazard Reduction Project, cutting wood to reduce the fuel available for the fire.

The aftermath of the arrests and subsequent outrage saw the Department of Homeland Security claim Friday that the two arrested were not technically firefighters because they were cutting wood.

“The two contracted work crews questioned on the day of their arrests were not even assigned to actively fight the fire; they were there in a support role, cutting logs into firewood,” the Friday post to X reads.“The firefighting response remained uninterrupted the entire time.”

The U.S. Department of the Interior defines an entry-level wildland firefighter as someone who, among other tasks, chops brush. Forest Service spokesperson Jennifer Risdal did not respond directly to questions about the veracity of the DHS post.

“USDA Forest Service is aware of a Border Patrol operation on the Bear Gulch Fire,” Risdal said in an emailed statement Saturday. “There have been no impacts to firefighting efforts and progress continues to be made on containment.”

The fire was 13% contained as of Saturday afternoon, according to a federal interagency report.

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Seattle Times reporter Isabella Breda contributed to this report.

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