Government emergency workers in the US responding to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina were relocated over the weekend amid concerns that “armed militia” could pose a threat to their safety.
According to an email obtained by the Washington Post, a US Forest Service official sent out a message warning that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) “has advised all federal responders Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately”.
The message said that soldiers with the national guard “had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA”.
The Appalachian county of Rutherford incorporates the mountain towns of Rutherfordton, Forest City and Chimney Rock, which were badly hit by Helene floodwaters that tore away homes, washed out roads and killed dozens.
The politicization of the response to Helene and later Milton has provided a recruitment opportunity for white supremacist groups who have assembled in devastated regions that government emergency services have struggled to reach as part of a recruitment drive and PR effort.
Fema has also long been a target of unfounded anti-government conspiracy theorists – especially on the US’s far right – going back more than a decade.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that white nationalist groups, including Patriot Front, had joined recovery efforts in Florida and in the Carolinas. An X post from western North Carolina read: “We in Patriot Front are here to help out the local communities … Our politicians can hem and haw and switch over quickly to their talking points about Israel, but we truly are supporting our communities and being America first.”
A Guardian report from 2020 described people in Corbett, Oregon, being stopped at armed civilian checkpoints and asked to identify themselves during wildfires, sparking a debate about vigilante activity and how law enforcement should respond.
The Forest Service email, since confirmed to be authentic according to the Washington Post, said that incident management teams “have been notified and are coordinating the evacuation of all assigned personnel in that county”.
A Forest Service official said Helene responders moved to a “safe area” and some emergency response work in that area had been paused on Saturday before resuming a day later.
Fema had reportedly responded to the threats by ceasing to go door-to-door and instead were operating from fixed locations. “For the safety of our dedicated staff and the disaster survivors we are helping, Fema has made some operational adjustments”, an anonymous official told the Post.
In the weeks since Helene hit the region, US government officials have battled misinformation, including conspiracy theories that the hurricane was manipulated by the government in part to force people off their land to make way for lithium mining projects.
Federal officials co-ordinating the Helene response have been subjected to antisemitic attacks that travel alongside anti-government conspiracy theories, according to a report by the non-profit Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).
Tensions between residents and government emergency workers resulted in harassment, Riva Duncan, a former Forest Service official in the area, including some being told: “We don’t want the government here”.
“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,” Duncan told the Post. “And it’s sad because they are probably the ones who need the help the most.”
The tensions come as aid groups have flooded the area of western North Carolina. A resident reportedly threatened Fema personnel stationed in a trailer next to a supplies distribution center manned by the Cajun Navy Relief organisation and the Baptist church. Local police confirmed the incident.
Anti-government sentiment and disinformation have spread far beyond Appalachia, with the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, accused of echoing misinformation for political gain. Some Republicans have even claimed the US government can control the weather, triggering widespread condemnation, especially by local Republican figures.
In remarks to a North Carolina church congregation on Sunday, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, issued a veiled condemnation of the phenomenon.
“There are some who are not acting in the spirit of community and I am speaking of those who have been literally not telling the truth, lying, about people who are working hard to help those in need. Spreading disinformation when the truth and fact are required.
“The problem,” Harris added, is that “it’s making it harder to get people lifesaving information if they’re led to believe they cannot trust. And that is the pain of it all, because the idea that those in need are somehow being convinced that the forces are working against them in a way that they would not seek aid.”
