By Shannon Dininny
The Associated Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Karen FitzPatrick’s favorite Bible verses still compete for space on her bedroom wall with inspirational quotations and photographs — posing with her prom date, goofy snapshots with family and friends.
But a neatly folded flag and a firefighters’ boots and helmet serve as a reminder of the fire that raged through a remote canyon in Okanogan National Forest five years ago Monday, killing the 18-year-old and three other trapped firefighters.
In the years since the so-called Thirtymile fire, family members of the victims have repeatedly demanded policy changes at the U.S. Forest Service, from increasing training to removing the shroud of secrecy over disciplinary actions.
An investigation found that fire bosses had broken all 10 of the agency’s standard safety rules and ignored numerous signs of danger on the fire line that day, July 10, 2001.
It wasn’t the first time such rules had been broken and it wasn’t the last — two more firefighters died in similar circumstances in the Cramer fire in remote Idaho in 2003.
“The Forest Service is the Wild West. They are not accountable for anything,” said Kathie FitzPatrick, Karen’s mother, as she stood in the bedroom where the calendar hasn’t moved from July 2001. “They can do anything they want. They have immunity.”
The Forest Service developed its safety rules and a list of danger watch signs after 28 firefighters died on wildfires in Montana and Southern California in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Yet in 1994, another 14 firefighters died on Colorado’s Storm King Mountain after eight of 10 safety rules and several watch signs were broken, ignored or unrecognized.
A 2004 analysis by the Agriculture Department’s inspector general determined that similar fire orders were violated at the Thirtymile and Cramer fires: No assigned lookouts. No escape routes or safety zones identified. No spot weather forecasts.
The Thirtymile fire’s four casualties died in their emergency fire shelters when they were trapped by an inferno with 10 other firefighters and two campers in the Chewuch River canyon in the Okanogan National Forest.
According to the Forest Service investigation, fire bosses ignored numerous signs of danger, repeatedly underestimated the fire and allowed their only escape route from the dead-end canyon to be cut off.
Bitter about the agency’s investigation of itself after Thirtymile, which initially blamed the victims, family members pushed Congress to mandate an independent investigation whenever a Forest Service firefighter dies in an entrapment or burnover.
After Thirtymile, the Forest Service announced that nine employees and fire commanders were reassigned from active duty; others quit or retired. The specifics of the disciplinary action were not disclosed.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Spokane, Wash., confirmed there is still an open investigation of the fire, which was believed to have been caused by an unattended campfire. No one has ever been charged with a crime.
The Forest Service and other wildland firefighting agencies have worked together to establish minimum requirements for training and experience. The agency also has worked with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to re-examine safety and training policies.
“Safety is a core value to the Forest Service. It’s the most important thing to our operation,” said spokeswoman Rose Davis of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
“But more important, we’re focused on human performance, because it’s the humans who have to make the decisions, change their tactics and provide leadership to other firefighters.”
William Craven, whose son Tom died in the Thirtymile fire, agrees. The Craven family still has three sons fighting fires for the Forest Service.
“You’re always going to make some decision. Sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong. It’s not going to bring the kids back,” he said.
Firefighter Ted Craven, Tom’s younger brother, has seen changes. He watched from an adjacent hillside as the Thirtymile fire blew up, unaware that his brother had been trapped.
“Everything’s more cautious these days,” he said. “It used to be full charge. Now we sit back and assess how we’re going to attack it. It’s a lot safer.”
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On the Net:
U.S. Forest Service: http://www.fs.fed.us
Inspector general’s report: http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/08601-38-SF.pdf