SEATTLE (AP) — Two firefighters who were part of a 44-person crew fighting a wildland blaze on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula were taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents during a multiagency criminal investigation into the two contractors they worked for, federal authorities said Thursday.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management asked the Border Patrol to help check the workers’ identities Wednesday when crews were working in a remote area, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol said in a statement. Border Patrol agents found two workers who were in the U.S. illegally and detained them, the agencies said.

Federal authorities did not provide information about the investigation into the contractors, and they did not immediately respond to questions seeking

See Full Page