With over 100 wildfires burning in Western states, the U.S. military is now training troops to join the fight against them and provide relief to some of the 25,000 firefighters on scene.
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that 200 active duty troops will be split into 10 units of 20 men and all deployed to the same fire. The move marks the first time that active duty military has been called out to fight domestic fires. The troops will come from 17th Field Artillery Brigade of the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington.
National Guard troops have already been on the scene at several fires to help firefighters.
Officials in Idaho reported that an elderly woman died and 50 homes were destroyed in a cluster of fires along the Clearwater River. The “Clearwater Complex” fire has burned more than 50,000 acres of timber & brush.
A spokesman for Clearwater fire command said that they are facing significant shortages and have had requests for reinforcements for ground forces and aircraft returned “UTF” or “unable to fill.”
Currently fourteen major wildfires are impacting Idaho. Oregon and Washington have more than 30 large fires and have totaled the highest property losses from the flames.
At least 32 homes were destroyed in fires burning in north-central Washington near the resort town of Chelan.
The FBI has issued an alert to officials in Colorado and Wyoming over a group of Middle Eastern men who have been harassing military families in the region.
Areas specifically mentioned by the FBI alert include Greeley, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
One incident had two Middle Eastern men approaching a woman outside her home. The men stated they knew she was the wife of a U.S. interrogator. The men laughed when she denied the claim and then the men entered a dark-colored sedan that contained two other Middle Eastern men.
Other incidents have the men attempting to gain information.
“On numerous occasions family members of military personnel were confronted by Middle Eastern males in front of their homes,” the FBI alert reads. “The males have attempted to obtain personal information about the military men’s family members through intimidation.”
“The family members have reported feeling scared,” it added.
ISIS has stated that they intend to strike military members in their homes and last March published a list of addresses they claimed belonged to U.S. military members.
The alert also says the FBI cannot confirm if the incidents involve the same men.
President Obama announced the progress against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa allows U.S. troops to come home.
“We have risen to the challenge,” he said at the White House. “Our focus now is getting to zero.”
Around 1,500 troops have already returned and 2,700 more will return by April 30th. Only 100 military officials will stay in Liberia after that date to provide advice on containment.
The President said the way Ebola has been brought under control shows that calls for travel restrictions and harsh measures were not necessary.
“People were understandably afraid,” Obama said. “Some stoked those fears.”
The President praised charitable groups that took the initiative to go and help the victims of the outbreak.
The U.S. Army has ordered a recruiting office to remove a sign because it says “God”.
The sign outside a Phoenix area recruiting station since last October read “on a mission for both God and Country.”
The sign was removed after complaints from anti-Christianists outside the Phoenix area who were incited by anti-Christian media outlets. The biggest opponent was noted bigot Mikey Weinstein, who called the picture a “poster of shame.”
“Long story short, the poster at the Phoenix armed forces recruitment hub is an absolutely abominable slap in the face of everyone who’s ever taken the time to digest, understand, and swear the service members’ sacred oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution, let alone those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the values, rights, and protections contained therein,” Weinstein wrote on the self-described left-wing website Daily Kos.
Army Recruiting Command spokesman Brian Lepley said the local office had produced the sign without prior approval.