The National Guard, FEMA staff and other aid workers unload food and water from a National Guard helicopter in Jefferson, N.C., on Oct. 2, 2024. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
LAKE LURE, N.C. — Threats against federal emergency response personnel have hampered relief work in parts of western North Carolina hard hit by Hurricane Helene, prompting disaster workers to relocate because of safety concerns and feeding a cycle of fear and anxiety.
On Monday, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that it had arrested William Jacob Parsons, 44, of Bostic, N.C., on charges of making threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency employees. FEMA and U.S. Forest Service personnel, who had been working on recovery, relocated, and at least some work in the county was paused. While officials had warned about the threat of truckloads of militia potentially targeting relief workers, the sheriff’s office did not find evidence for those claims.
The incident is one of the latest examples of growing concerns about safety and security in western North Carolina, where many towns were almost wiped off the map after the historic hurricane made landfall more than two weeks ago. In the days and weeks since, misinformation and rumors have made the recovery more difficult, targeting multiple federal agencies operating as part of the recovery effort. Federal officials such as the homeland security secretary and FEMA’s director of public affairs have been the targets of antisemitic attacks.
Gov. Roy Cooper (D) sought to counter false claims about the federal government’s Helene response, saying in a statement Monday that “we know that significant misinformation online contributes to threats against response workers on the ground.”
FEMA said it made operational changes over the weekend “out of an abundance of caution” based on threat information. In an email obtained by The Washington Post, a Forest Service official assisting in Helene recovery response operations said that FEMA had advised agencies on the ground to relocate workers, noting that U.S. military personnel “had come across … trucks of armed militia saying they were out hunting FEMA.”
The threat turned out to be more limited than that initial report, FEMA officials said, and local law enforcement apprehended the armed man who had threatened to go after its employees.
“Keeping FEMA staff safe while they are helping people in disaster impacted communities is always my top priority,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a statement Monday. “I wanted to make sure we protected our staff on the ground while we worked diligently with local law enforcement to understand the full situation.”
“Thanks to our close partnership with Governor Roy Cooper and his team, as well as local law enforcement,” Criswell added, “FEMA teams will soon be back doing what they do best — meeting people where they are and going door to door to register survivors for assistance.”
The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the county’s communications center had received a call Saturday shortly before 1 p.m. warning that “a white male had an assault rifle and made the comment about possibly harming FEMA employees working after the disaster of Hurricane Helene in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock area.”
After learning of the call, deputies in the sheriff’s office alerted other law enforcement agencies and others helping with relief efforts and went to where the threat was made, the statement said. They identified the color and type of vehicle that the suspect was driving. After getting additional information, the sheriff’s office identified the suspect as Parsons, arrested him and charged him with “Going Armed to the Terror of the Public,” according to the statement. He was armed with a handgun and a rifle, it added.
While the initial report said there was “a truck load of militia that was involved,” the statement said, authorities said they concluded “that Parsons acted alone and there was no truck loads of militia going to Lake Lure.”
One Forest Service official coordinating the Helene recovery said that responders moved to a “safe area” and that at least some work in the area — which included clearing trees off dozens of damaged and blocked roads to help search-and-rescue crews, as well as groups delivering supplies — was paused.
By Sunday afternoon, personnel were back in place, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Some of the claims swirling around federal responders have been amplified by former President Donald Trump as he seeks to return to the White House. Trump has alleged, without evidence, that the federal government was “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” and repeatedly claimed that FEMA was diverting disaster relief money for migrants. Biden administration officials and other Republicans have refuted the allegation, noting that money for hurricane recovery and aid for migrants sit in different agency accounts and cannot be transferred.
The threats were made at a gas station on Route 9 in neighboring Polk County, prompting an attendant there to share concerns with U.S. soldiers who visited, said Capt. Jamie Keever, a spokesman with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office. The Army reported the incident to law enforcement authorities, who arrested Parsons Saturday night.
Keever said while there have been unconfirmed reports of “truck loads of militia men” in the area, the details in this case do not bear that out. “This was a lone individual,” Keever said. “We’re trying to get the word out about that.” It was not immediately clear where or how the report referring to a militia originated.
Col. Beth Smith, an Army spokeswoman, declined to provide details about what the soldiers heard but said that no Army personnel had been threatened. She referred additional questions to FEMA.
Chimney Rock, in Rutherford County, has become one of the centers of tension and conflict after a rumor spread on social media that government officials planned to seize the devastated village and bulldoze bodies under the rubble. Authorities and news outlets debunked the assertion, but people still took to social media imploring militias to go after FEMA.
A person familiar with FEMA operations said the agency was working out of an abundance of caution and its teams were operating at fixed locations and secure areas instead of the usual practice of going door to door.
The heightening tension has resulted in residents harassing federal employees, said Riva Duncan, a former Forest Service official who lives in Asheville.
Duncan, who is also a representative with the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, said people have been yelling, “We don’t want your help here,” at federal employees delivering aid or showing up to do repairs.
One Forest Service employee, she said, was pulling into a gas station when someone yelled at him to leave, saying, “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 said. “And it’s sad because they are probably the ones who need the help the most.”
In a text message shared with The Washington Post, a woman said that her child, a Forest Service crew member from California, was one of those who temporarily relocated and stopped work.
Earlier Saturday, a resident went to a supplies distribution center, which the Cajun Navy, a disaster response group, has been helping locals run. The resident threatened FEMA personnel who were also stationed there in a trailer, according to two Cajun Navy volunteers. Lake Lure police and the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident.
Sgt. Herbie Martin with the Spindale Police Department, about 25 miles outside Lake Lure, was circling the parking lot Sunday afternoon. He also confirmed the incident, saying that he hopes “FEMA would come back.”
On Sunday morning, Ashe County Sheriff B. Phil Howell posted on Facebook about the challenges FEMA faces.
“Recently in the mountain region, there have been threats made against them,” he wrote. “This has not happened in Ashe County or the surrounding counties. Out of an abundance of caution, they have paused their process as they are assessing the threats.”
Howell asked residents to “help folks and please don’t stir the pot.”
A FEMA team in Barnardsville left a site earlier than scheduled Saturday in the midst of helping people complete FEMA applications, according to volunteer Chloe Feinbaum.
“My neighbor was literally about to click the last button to finish her application,” she said. “The person who was helping her asked, ‘Can we please just wait five more minutes? I want to finish helping this woman.’ ”
A Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said the office had not received any reports of threats to FEMA officials.
A Forest Service employee who has been on the ground in McDowell County said that team leaders made the decision Sunday morning to stop them from going into the field that day “out of an abundance of caution” because of the threat to the west of them.
The individual, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the situation, said he and his crew have been clearing roads. Standing down was “demoralizing” and “broke the rhythm” of their work, he said.
It’s been about a 51-49 split of residents being “grateful to see us versus ‘go home feds,’ ” he said. “We were aware of the threats made against FEMA in particular, but federal responders in general.”
Brady Dennis in Fairview, N.C., contributed to this report.
