By Martin Kasindorf
USA TODAY
Copyright 2006 Gannett Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
DEVORE, Calif. — High in the mountain pass that divides Southern California's fire-prone slopes from the Mojave Desert, the nation's firefighting community on Sunday somberly honored the five U.S. Forest Service firefighters fatally overrun last month in a wildfire.
"The loss of these five men was a devastating tragedy, impossible ever to heal from totally," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at a national memorial ceremony organized by the Forest Service.
"They loved doing their jobs," said Jeanne Wade Evans, supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest, "but they also loved going home afterward. This time they could not go home."
The deaths of the Engine Company 57 crew in the 60-square-mile Esperanza fire were the greatest loss of firefighters in a wildfire since 14 died near Glenwood Springs, Colo., in 1994, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The 90-minute national memorial service was near San Bernardino at a facility in Cajon Pass built for rock concerts. Forest Service spokesman Mike Ferris estimated attendance at 8,000.
Dozens of firetrucks came from throughout California and from many national forests. More than 1,000 of those who came were uniformed firefighters, ranking from chiefs with white caps and gold braid on the sleeves of their black dress uniforms to fireline veterans in khaki or blue fatigues. Every badge was partly covered by a black band of mourning.
Engine 57 was based in Idyllwild, a closely knit mountain community of 3,400 in the San Bernardino National Forest 26 miles south of Cabazon, where the fire originated. The men had 37 years of experience among them.
The five were Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, of Idyllwild, the team's leader and a 21-year Forest Service veteran; Jason McKay, 27, of Phelan; Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto; and Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley.
Four of the men died Oct. 26, the first day of the fire. Cerda, in his second season with the Forest Service, died five days later of burns that covered 90% of his body.
In front of the stage Sunday, five tables draped in black each had a picture of one of the dead and a yellow Engine 57 helmet. Widows and black-clad relatives of the fallen men were escorted to the tables. They gently stroked the helmets.
Riverside County District Attorney-elect Rod Pacheco said last week that the blaze was deliberately set at 1:10 a.m. Oct. 26 near Esperanza Avenue in Cabazon, a town 20 miles west of Palm Springs.
The location is in the San Gorgonio Pass, one of the windiest places in the West -- so windy that 4,800 wind turbines whirl there to churn out electric power.
Fire fanned by the winds raced up to the mountaintops, spreading south and southwest through tinder-dry trees and brush.
At 8 a.m. that first day, the men of Engine 57 were outside their truck, unlimbering hoses to defend an evacuated home on San Gorgonio View Road, Forest Service spokesman Pat Boss said.
Behind them, a wall of flames suddenly rose from a canyon and overran the truck, which was all but melted. "They heard it and started to run, and that was all they wrote," Boss said. The "devil winds" gave the men no time to deploy the small shelters each firefighter carries, Boss said.
"The fire changed direction so fast that there was nothing anyone could do," Schwarzenegger said. The men were "engulfed by windswept flames while trying to save someone's house. Firefighting ... is filled with true heroes who risk their lives in order to save others."
Schwarzenegger recounted McKay's last phone call to his girlfriend from the fire scene six hours before he died. "Sweetie, this one looks bad. I love you."
It took 2,000 firefighters aided by retardant-dropping planes five days to fully contain the Esperanza fire. It burned 40,200 acres — more than 60 square miles — and destroyed 34 homes.
Raymond Oyler, 36, an auto mechanic who lives in Beaumont, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and arson. Oyler's attorney, Mark McDonald, said the suspect "adamantly denies" involvement in any wildfires.
