HOODSPORT, Wash. (KOMO) — Two members of a firefighting crew at the Bear Gulch Fire in Mason County were arrested by Border Patrol agents on Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation into two government contractors working at the fire, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed. According to CBP, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service requested the agency's help to terminate the firms working at the fire. Federal agents were verifying the identities of the members of the wildland firefighter crew when it was discovered that two individuals were illegally present in the U.S., and one had a prior order of removal, according to CBP officials. RELATED: Wildfire smoke impacts air quality across Puget Sound, with relief expected by weekendThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted on X Friday, disputing that the two people arrested were firefighters, saying they were there to do other duties not on the fire line. "The two illegal aliens apprehended were NOT firefighters," the DHS post reads. "The two contracted work crews questioned on the day of their arrests were not even assigned to actively fight the fire; they were there in a support role, cutting logs into firewood. The firefighting response remained uninterrupted the entire time. No active firefighters were even questioned, and U.S. Border Patrol’s actions did not prevent or interfere with any personnel actively engaged in firefighting efforts."Incident commanders at the Bear Gulch Fire told KOMO News they were aware Border Patrol had been at the scene, but confirmed it did not impact fire operations.The two members of the wildland firefighting team were taken into custody and transported to Bellingham on charges of illegal entry, according to CBP. "This cooperative effort highlights the coordination between federal agencies in ensuring the integrity of government operations and maintaining public trust in fiduciary matters," said USBP Blaine Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rosario P. Vasquez. News of the detained firefighters brought condemnation from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who said the immigration policy of the Trump administration is "fundamentally sick.""Trump has undercut our wildland firefighting abilities in more ways than one—from decimating the Forest Service and pushing out thousands of critical support staff, to now apparently detaining firefighters on the job," Murray said in a statement. “What’s next? Will Trump start detaining immigrant servicemembers? Or will he just maintain his current policy of deporting Purple Heart veterans?" Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson also spoke out against what he described as Trump's "cruel immigration policies."“We are indebted to the courageous firefighters who keep our communities safe," Ferguson told KOMO News in a statement. "I am deeply concerned about the arrest of two individuals who were fighting wildfires in our state.""I have asked my team to reach out to federal agencies for more information, to determine where these two individuals are, and to question why the Trump Administration’s cruel immigration policies now extend to individuals fighting forest fires,” Ferguson added.RELATED: ICE agents to boost presence in Seattle post-Labor Day, targeting sanctuary areasAttorneys at the Oregon-based Innovation Law Lab said one of the firefighters is a client of the firm and called his detention "unlawful."“We have seen entire towns burned to the ground, and it is outrageous that the US border patrol unlawfully detained the brave individuals who are protecting us," said Rodrigo-Fernandez-Ortega, a staff attorney at the Innovation Law Lab. "Although we have been searching for him since yesterday afternoon, CBP has concealed his whereabouts—our client has not been able to make contact with his lawyer or family, the ICE detainee locator has never been updated, and our attempts to use the DHS’s systems to locate him failed. We demand that they allow him to access counsel as is his right afforded by the U.S. Constitution.”No further details about the two individuals detained has been released from federal officials. The Bear Gulch fire has burned 9,080 acres and is only 13% contained as of Aug. 29, according to InciWeb.