Two firefighters were killed in Idaho, located in the north-western US, and another was wounded on Sunday when they were ambushed by sniper attack while responding to a brush fire, as crews endured a barrage of gunfire over several hours that the governor called a “heinous” assault. No arrests were announced.
The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said crews responded to a fire at Canfield Mountain just north of Coeur d’Alene around 13:22 local time (20:22 GMT) on Sunday. At 14:00, firefighters reported shots fired.
Sheriff Bob Norris said officials were not immediately sure how many people were shot. People were still coming off the mountain in the late afternoon, he said, so it “would be safe to assume” that others were still up there, reports news agencies.
A shelter-in-place order was lifted Sunday night after a tactical response team discovered the body of a man with a firearm nearby, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said. Officials did not release his name, nor did they say what kind of gun was found, says AP.
The three victims were brought to Kootenai Health, said hospital spokesperson Kim Anderson. Two were dead on arrival and the third was being treated for injuries, Anderson said. The wounded firefighter’s condition was not known.
“This is a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters,” Governor Brad Little said on X. “I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more.”
Sheriff Norris said it appeared the sniper was hiding in the rugged terrain and using a high-powered rifle. He said he instructed deputies to fire back.
Helicopters with heat-seeking technology were flying over the area trying to pinpoint the assailant, but they experienced difficulty because of smoke from the wildfire, which was still burning. Hikers on the mountain – asked to shelter in place – also were detected by the heat-seeking devices, leading to uncertainty if they were friend or foe, reports BBC.
An alert by the Kootenai County Emergency Management Office asked people to avoid the area around Canfield Mountain Trailhead and Nettleton Gulch Road, about 4 miles (6.5 km) north of downtown Coeur d’Alene.
Authorities planned a news conference later Sunday to provide more information.
The FBI has responded to the scene with technical teams and tactical support, Deputy Director Dan Bongino said. “It remains an active, and very dangerous scene,” he wrote in a post on X.
Coeur d’Alene is a city of 55,000 residents near the border with Washington. Canfield Mountain is a popular hiking and biking area on the city’s outskirts, covered with trees and heavy brush and crisscrossed with trails that lead into a national forest.