Newsweek, citing The Washington Post, published an article about a message that the U.S. Forest Service sent to numerous federal agencies explaining that FEMA is advising all federal responders in Rutherford County to "stand down and evacuate the county immediately" because of the alleged militia threat.
The National Guard says it came across two trucks full of "armed militia saying there [sic] were out hunting FEMA," according to the Forest Service message, which was sent via email.
"The IMTs [incident management teams] have been notified and are coordinating the evacuation of all assigned personnel in that county," the email further reads.
Two federal officials confirmed the authenticity of the email but it remains unknown just how serious the threat was determined to be. We do know that several federal employees were taken to a "safe area," which resulted in relief work being put on hold. Those employees were reportedly redeployed several days later.
(Related: Did you catch our story about the military-style Blackhawk helicopter that caused "rotor wash" destruction on a Cajun Navy supply staging area in western North Carolina?)
Feds clashing with locals
The Post's Brianna Sacks, who bylined the story, shared a message on X / Twitter after its publishing claiming that an entire firefighting crew had been told to avoid certain areas of Appalachia on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee "due to communities being governed by armed militias."
Concerning claims that FEMA never even bothered to try to help Helene-ravaged communities, even going so far as to sabotage local relief efforts, the federal government insists that this is all just "misinformation and rumors" that "have made the recovery effort more difficult."
In short, local relief efforts are clashing with federal relief efforts, or so it seems. There is obviously a conflict of interests at play with how the government is helping those whose property and lives were destroyed by Helene to the point that relief efforts are being politicized.
"It's terrible because a lot of these folks who need assistance are refusing it because they believe the stuff people are saying about FEMA and the government," commented Forest Service official Riva Duncan. "And it's sad because they are probably the ones who need the help the most."
It is nothing new for Appalachia to not exactly be supportive of the federal government. The region tends more towards poverty than affluence, though there has been an influx of people from other states who have moved there in recent years to retire or get away from the bigger cities.
On the flip side, the federal government has a nasty habit of lying about things, hence why social media is being flooded with eyewitness and video evidence showing that the feds are not exactly supportive of local relief efforts.
President Biden is on the side of the feds, of course, having denounced what he described as the "reckless, irresponsible, and relentless disinformation and outright lies" that are supposedly causing many in Appalachia to reject federal assistance and drive out federal workers.
"After the response to the Hawaiian fires, yeah, it puts you on edge," one commenter wrote about the completely understandable reluctance that many people have to allowing FEMA into their neighborhoods, even after a major disaster.
"What you call militias are locals protecting their territory. The local sheriffs have stepped up for the most part and put FEMA on notice: you aren't taking over and running things."
The latest news coverage about Helene, Milton and more can be found at Disaster.news.
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