By Andrew Edwards
San Bernardino County Sun
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
WASHINGTON — Firefighters across the United States should remember the deadly Esperanza Fire as a lesson to emphasize the “priority of life over structure protection,” according to a list of recommendations that has been approved by the nation’s top forestry official.
The U.S. Forest Service released the official three-page list of recommendations, produced by the agency’s Accident Review Board, on Tuesday. The document, signed by chief forester Abigail Kimbell, stems from the investigation into the deaths of five firefighters during the first day of the Esperanza Fire.
The Esperanza Fire burned in northern Riverside County in late October.
The action plan does not alter standing orders issued to firefighters working for federal agencies, said Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. The plan does call for improved planning and training to help firefighters do their jobs without taking unnecessary risks.
“We’ve always said there is no piece of ground, no structure, that is worth dying for,” Davis said.
The action plan follows the publication of the Esperanza Fire Accident Investigation Factual Report, which came out in May. The report contained the findings of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and U.S. Forest Service’s joint investigation into the Esperanza fatalities.
Investigators concluded that human error was at the root of firefighters’ deaths, and that “a risky decision or series of risky decisions appear to have contributed to this dangerous situation from which there was no room for error.”
An arsonist ignited what became the Esperanza Fire around 1 a.m. on Oct. 26. By 7:15 a.m., firefighters lost radio contact with the five men of Engine Co. 57, who had deployed to fight the fire near a structure called the “Octagon House” in Twin Pines.
Fire Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 44, of Idyllwild and firefighters Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; Jason McKay, 27, of Phelan; and Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto died on the first day of the fire.
Firefighter Pablo Cerda, 23, was treated for massive burns at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where he died Oct. 31.
Raymond Lee Oyler of Beaumont has been charged with five counts of murder and arson in relation to the Esperanza Fire and could be executed if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In assessing responders’ mistakes that led to the fatalities, investigators concluded that unnecessary risks were made when firefighters decided to try and save buildings threatened by Esperanza’s flames.
Some problems, according to the report, happened the day of the fire. For example, investigators found that firefighters did not use a 2002 map that showed the Octagon House could not be protected from wildfire.
The accident report also faulted the culture that surrounds firefighting, noting that fire crews and the general public expect firefighters to take on high risks to protect property during wildfires.
The new action plan calls for Forest Service and CDF firefighters to work together to be identify and map out high-risk spots in areas where federal and state crews battle fires by the end of the year.
The plan also mandates that the U.S. Forest Service and CDF cooperate to determine criteria that will be used to decide how much risk firefighters should take on when battling fires in the wildland-urban interface - the area at the border between human settlement and wilderness.
Davis said a review of how and when firefighters decide to accept risks can be used to improve training classes to teach firefighters when and when not to defend buildings.
As of Tuesday, Mike Dietrich, chief of fire and aviation operations for the San Bernardino National Forest, said it’s still too early to know how the action plan will change the way firefighters take on wildfires.
“Let’s give this a little time to flesh out,” he said.