2 Killed as Active Shooter Ambushes Idaho Firefighters, Gunman Still Active

OnsceneALERT
Jun 29
3 min read

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INCIDENT UPDATE

on June 30 2025 at 8:12am CST

Two firefighters were killed and a third was injured on Sunday when they came under attack while responding to a brush fire in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. “It’s clear to me that this fire was set intentionally to draw us in,” one firefighter said while calling for help. Residents were asked to shelter in place as hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement converged on the area to look for the gunman.

Then on Sunday night, a deceased man was found on Canfield Mountain with a firearm nearby, and the shelter in place order was lifted. The man is believed to have started the fire before shooting at the responding firefighters, the Kootenai County sheriff said. Source: CNN

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ORIGINAL POST

Firefighters were responding to a fire call when the shooting erupted, a sheriff said, adding that it was not clear how many might be wounded.

At least two people were killed in Idaho Active Shooter on Sunday afternoon after firefighters were ambushed in a sniper attack as they responded to a fire call in a rugged mountain area, the authorities said.

Officials said that it was unclear how many shooters might be involved but said that emergency workers were still being shot at. Sheriff Robert Norris of Kootenai County said at an evening news conference at about 4:30 p.m. that the number of casualties was unknown and “we are actively taking sniper fire as we speak.”

“We don’t know who the suspects are,” he said. “We don’t know how many there are.” He added: “We don’t know if it’s one, two, three or four.”

“If these individuals are not neutralized quickly, this will likely be a multiday operation,” he added. Meanwhile, the fire that initially led to the response continued to burn.

Sheriff Norris said that the authorities were taking “rapid fire out there.” He added it appeared that “high-powered rifles” were being used and the shooters were in “heavy brush, well prepared, they are blending in with their surroundings.”

Canfield Mountain Natural Area, near where the shooting happened, is a city park on the eastern outskirts of Coeur d’Alene, with a system of trails through steep mountain terrain, used by hikers, mountain bikers and motorcyclists. Hikers were still making it off the mountain as the gunfire continued, Sheriff Norris said.

Graham Christensen, the past president of the Lake City Trail Alliance, said the Couer d’Alene Fire Department regularly performed brush clearing and fire suppression there, and said he did not know of a naturally caused wildfire there in the past two decades. He said the attack was a shock because the area has always felt so safe. “Everybody feels comfortable up there,” he said.

He said the authorities were working on a plan to suppress the capability of the shooter or shooters to open fire. Officers on scene were reporting shots coming from multiple directions, he added.

“When we get that under control, when we have an opportunity to suppress that, then we will continue our removing of people who are on the mountain, who are on for a hike, or public safety personnel or people who live on the backside of the mountain,” the sheriff said.

The F.B.I. confirmed they were on scene and helping the local authorities.

Kim Anderson, a spokeswoman for Kootenai Health hospital system, said that along with the two fatalities, one other person had been brought in for injuries from the shooting. She did not immediately have details on the condition of that person.

Gov. Brad Little of Idaho on social media called the attack “a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters.”

“As this situation is still developing, please stay clear from the area to allow law enforcement and firefighters to do their jobs,” he said.

The Kootenai County Fire Department responded to the wildfire around 1:21 p.m. local time. A short time later, shots were fired, officials said.

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office asked residents on Facebook to avoid Coeur d’Alene.

Kootenai County Emergency Management told residents to shelter in place and avoid the area near Canfield Mountain Trailhead and Nettleton Gulch Road. The office expanded the alert to include an area south of Hayden Lake Road and east of 15th Street.