Federal emergency officials in South Carolina are reiterating their security policies amid reports of so-called “armed militias” threatening storm recovery operations to the north in Asheville, North Carolina.
The current protocol is to retire staff from the field once a threat is detected, said FEMA spokesperson Gabriel González, and return them to the field once it’s deemed safe.
“We just need to be very careful out there,” he said in an interview at the Anderson County Public Library, where FEMA has a temporary office.
In Rutherford County, about 90 miles south of Ashe County, federal emergency response personnel paused operations Saturday and moved to a different area because of reported threats from a so-called “armed militia,” The Washington Post reported , citing an email sent to multiple federal agencies.
However, FEMA’s account of so-called militias has been disputed by local authorities, like Capt. Jamie Keever from the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, although there was an arrest.