Sounds like an individual authority figure making a bad choice. There has been substantial private aviation support on the search and rescue - there’s numerous videos online and dozens of private aircraft in the air on flightradar throughout the day. Cajun Navy is there with aviation and I donated to a WNC aviation group.
He even says that he was able to perform rescues before that interaction. It was Sunday, which was still pretty early - sounds like that one fire chief was on a power trip and not seeing the big picture. Probably has since changed his tune.
What authority does a local fire chief have anyway to tell a private aviator to stop?