“If these individuals are not neutralised quickly, this is going to be likely a multi-day operation,” Norris said.
Law enforcement was investigating whether the fire could have been intentionally lit to lure first responders to the scene, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Jeff Howard told ABC News.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had been briefed on the shooting, ABC News reported.
Video footage from the scene showed smoke billowing from heavily wooded hillsides and armed responders preparing, while several ambulances and emergency vehicles were seen entering a nearby hospital.
“FBI technical teams and tactical assets are currently on the scene providing support,” FBI deputy director Dan Bongino wrote on X. “It remains an active, and very dangerous scene.”
Firefighters received the first call of a fire about 1.21pm on Sunday (5.21am Monday AEST), Norris said, and about 40 minutes later, reports emerged that they were being shot at.
Howard told ABC News that firefighters were responding to a small brush fire that broke out in the Canfield Mountain nature area on the eastern side of Coeur d’Alene when they came under gunfire from somebody in a nearby wooded area.
Governor Brad Little said “multiple” firefighters were attacked.
“This is a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters,” Little said on social platform X. “I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more.”
An alert by the Kootenai County Emergency Management Office asked people to avoid the area around Canfield Mountain Trailhead and Nettleton Gulch Road, 6.5 kilometres north of downtown Coeur d’Alene.
The fire was still active, Norris said.
“It’s going to keep burning,” he said. “Can’t put any resources on it right now.”
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.
