Todd Riley

Firefighters understand there are risks every time they leave the station, but a sniper hiding in the trees as crews work to put out a forest fire isn’t one of them, said Bend Fire Chief Todd Riley.

On Sunday a man in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho intentionally set fire to a forested area immediately north of the city. When crews arrived, the man perched in the trees, later identified by area officials as 20-year-old Wess Roley, began firing at the firefighters, killing two and seriously injuring a third.

“It’s shocking. It’s sickening. It’s sad. Use all of the adjectives you want to try and describe something that really shouldn’t happen,” Riley said. “We take care of the community. That is our charge, and to think that somebody would deliberately do this, it has messed with everybody’s equilibrium on what the risk — the real risks — could be. We train extensively on how to safely operate in hostile situations. And when I say hostile, I’m talking about fire emergency, not talking about taking gunfire.”

When Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they were told to begin returning fire, said local sheriff Bob Norris. Meanwhile, an FBI tactical team worked to locate Roley using cell phone data. The gunfire went on for several hours, but eventually a deceased Roley was located in the trees nearby. It is unclear whether his wounds were self-inflicted.

Makayla Oliver, spokesperson for Bend Fire & Rescue, said that firefighters have the option to wear a bullet-proof vest when responding to crime-related calls, but in a situation like the fire in Coeur d’Alene, Bend firefighters would have most likely responded wearing their wildland fire gear and not tactical gear.

“Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai firefighters were called up there for a wildland fire, so your thoughts are all about how to be safe while operating in a fire situation. Where’s the fire going? What’s the fire behavior? Are there any structures nearby? You’re not thinking, is there somebody hiding with a high powered rifle whose sole purpose is to take us out,” Riley said.

Bend’s firefighters are trained for a wide variety of circumstances but there is no planning for anomalous situations like this, Riley said. It would be one thing if the fire was in an urban area — where Riley said it is procedure for a building with potential threats to first be cleared by Bend Police — but it’s almost impossible to secure a forest when all the firefighters are thinking about is how to save homes.

“Anytime there is tragedy were someone loses their life or is severely injured, you have to review your practices to make sure that there’s nothing you did to contribute.,” Riley said. “There will be reflection. There will be a review of policies. But when it comes down to somebody who wants to harm a responding firefighter, that could happen in any scenario in any part of this country — urban or wildland. We rely on the community’s trust, and we hope that they trust us.”