Hello family.
Haven’t posted much updates yesterday and today due to on-the-ground work and travel.
But here is an update on a fire that happened:
There was a brush fire two nights ago (Oct 29th) near the Oceti Sakowin camp. It happened west of the camp, across highway 1806. It was intentionally started by unknown arsonists, but given its timing and the history of stupid decisions, many of us suspect DAPL as the culprits. No direct evidence to support this. The fire ended up dying out of its own accord. No injuries occurred.
However…in lieu of identifying the culprits there were some interesting developments on how the fire was handled.
First…the primary reason Morton County police gave for raiding & clearing the frontline treaty camp was because our barricades added 30 minutes onto the response time for ambulances or firetrucks to get to the Oceti Sakowin camp, within their “Jurisdiction”. They stated they had to be able to provide emergency services to that area.
Second…over 5 different people in the vicinity of the fire all called 911, which connected to the Morton County emergency dispatcher. All 5 were either laughed at, hung up on or had their concerns dismissed.
Third…Even though 911 dispatch received numerous call about the fire…no firetrucks were sent to the site. No ambulances were sent to the site. Again…for emphasis, no Morton County emergency vehicles were sent to the site. (Remember the reason police stated they had to raid the camp?)
Fourth…BIA emergency vehicles DID respond to the call, arrived on scene, however, due to jurisdictional limitations they could not engage the fire without receiving explicit permission from Morton County. As such, requests were made, but no permission was granted.
Fifth and last point…a National Guard helicopter did eventually arrive to drop water on the fire. 6 hours later, after the fire had already put itself out. And yet there’s a local new article about how the National Guard put out the fire. A fire, that, was more or less, already out.
Thankfully the wind was blowing away from the camp so no great damage occurred. And yet…again, the entire situation causes me to contemplate the origins of this blaze. Who would benefit the most from a large grassfire so near our camp? Although circumspect, there’s enough fodder here to lean towards a certain oil pipeline company that has already shown itself to be utterly devoid of corporate responsibility and common decency. *cough* DAPL *cough*
Here’s an article that goes into some detail about the event: http://m.dailykos.com/…/-Standing-Rock-Update-Arson-fire-st…
Anyways..thats my 4am update. Peace. #NoDakotaAccess #KeepItInTheGround #WaterIsLife
Dallas Goldtooth
From Daily Kos: Standing Rock Update – Arson fire started near Oceti Sakowin Camp last night
A large grassfire was started last night, October 29-30, around midnight west of the main Oceti Sakowin Camp on a nearby hill. The startled Water Protectors were calmed by forest firefighters in the camp who quickly assessed that the fire would burn itself out. Video shows the fire was deliberately set as a long-range camera shows numerous dollops of new fires being started on the outskirts of the fire.
Hello Relatives, the fire at the camp is […] gonna burn its self out. I’ll give a little overview of the fire. I’ve been a fire fighter for seven years, back in the day, three of those years on a Hotshot crew and we did a lot of night burns like this. Whoever’s burning on top, they’re using drip torch to try to get the fire going. We can see it from the ground there. It’s not the jurisdiction and it’s not any of our goal to have anybody be accused of arson. And so the camp stayed off. It’s not BIA’s jurisdiction so the BIA stayed away and Morton County [later corrected in another video to Tribal police, not Morton County] blocked the road so they can’t cross the road. But we did, we’re in pursuit of unmarked vehicles that were going around, DAPL security were spotted on the far east side. But no one was able to get a visual. ( Camera turns to show highway BIA checkpoint after fire was set after midnight.) We had a group talk to the community that was there and let ’em know that wind is barely blowing and the RH [relative humidity] level is high and the fire will burn itself out. So the good news is that DAPL security can’t hide up on the mountain anymore. The bad news is they haven’t caught the guys, that’s where DAPL sits up on top with their ATVs and their vehicles. We can see them from [camp? video broke up] Everyone is good to go and they’re going to sleep and gotta a long day tomorrow getting the camp secured and ready for winter. So everyone is okay, Relatives.
Myron gives another video update this morning. Oceti Sakowin Camp suspects that DAPL security set this fire as a distraction. This is on the heels of the lone gunman, DAPL security guard who rushed the camp on October 27 and is now in the hands of the FBI. I Watched An Armed Dakota Access Pipeline Employee Get Arrested After Entering Protesters’ Camp by Wes Enzinna at Mother Jones.
The Oceti Sakowin Camp is one of five that I know about. Sacred Stone, Rosebud and Red Warrior Camps are nearby and Sacred Ground Camp was raided and dismantled on October 27: Standing Rock Update: 100s arrested, video of mass pepper spraying, injuries from ‘non-lethal’ weapons.
BACKGROUND: My detailed news timeline on Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) vs. the water protectors can be read here if you need it.
Above posted at: http://m.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/30/1588839/-Standing-Rock-Update-Arson-fire-started-near-Oceti-Sakowin-Camp-last-night
