Pasadena Star-News (California)
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IDYLLWILD, Calif. — More than 800 people gathered at a middle school Saturday to mourn a fire captain and father of five who was one of five firefighters killed in last week’s Esperanza wildfire.
Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 44, was a volleyball coach at Idyllwild School, where his three youngest children were students and where fire trucks draped with American flags were parked.
Loutzenhiser’s family sat surrounded by U.S. Forest Service officials and firefighters. The girls volleyball team he coached sat behind the family, wearing their uniforms.
“There isn’t one girl on that team that didn’t just adore him,” said Naoma Griner, one of Loutzenhiser’s fellow coaches.
The two-hour ceremony featured music and a video tribute to the firefighter and his family.
“Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope,” said Pastor Tim Westcott, who spoke at the memorial. “It will not always be this way.”
Loutzenhiser, a 21-year veteran of the Forest Service, was the captain of Engine 57, the crew that lost five men under a wall of flames as they tried to protect a house on the first day of the wildfire. Three of the firefighters died at the scene and two more, including Loutzenhiser, later died at hospitals.
Fifty-seven white homing pigeons representing Loutzenhiser’s crew, Engine 57, were released into a field behind the school following the service. Loutzenhiser’s wife and his five children released the first birds. His twin 8-year-old sons ran after their birds gleefully.
“The family is taking it pretty hard but we are hanging together,” said brother Mike Loutzenhiser after the ceremony.
A public memorial for all five fallen firefighters was scheduled for today.
The fire, which authorities said was set deliberately, destroyed 34 homes and charred more than 60 square miles before being contained Monday.
Raymond Lee Oyler has been charged with murder and arson in connection with the blaze. Oyler has denied setting the fire.