Lessons from fatal Calif. wildfire will be in future training

By Gillian Flaccus
The Associated Press

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The story of five wildland firefighters who died trying to protect a home in a Southern California mountain community will be incorporated into future wildfire training materials, according to a U.S. Forest Service plan released Tuesday.

The internal document, signed by Chief Forester Gail Kimbell and obtained by The Associated Press, calls for seven changes in agency policy when fighting wildfires, particularly in areas where suburbs and wilderness converge.

The plan follows last month’s investigative report into the deaths of the members of San Bernardino National Forest Engine 57, who perished on Oct. 26, 2006, when a 90-foot wall of flame overran them as they protected an unoccupied vacation home in Twin Pines, about 90 miles east of Los Angeles.

“The most important thing is the safety of the people who are fighting these fires. No structure is worth one life,” said Joe Walsh, Forest Service spokesman. “Let’s learn from these tragedies.”

Raymond Lee Oyler, a 36-year-old auto mechanic, is charged with starting the blaze. He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and multiple counts of arson and using an incendiary device to start fires between May 16 and Oct. 26, 2006.

Last month’s report found that a 2002 state fire map flagged the home as “non-defensible” but indicated that the crew did not have that information when they chose to defend it.

The three-page “action plan” released Tuesday requires that up-to-date maps of all areas of high fire risk in California be distributed to firefighters by July 31. It also orders the development of a strategy to identify high-risk areas where suburban sprawl has encroached on wilderness.

“We know that they didn’t have a current map,” Walsh said of the firefighters who died. “When you get into development areas ... things change on a weekly basis as developments go in.”

The earlier investigative report also found that communication problems, failure to fully plan an escape route and pressure to ignore hazards may have led to the deaths of firefighters.

Five fire engines, including the one overrun by the flames, were using a radio frequency not assigned to the fire, the report said. Also, the crew had not completely scouted escape routes or safety zones. The nearest refuge was about 1,500 feet from the accident site, the report found.

The plan released Tuesday said that the Forest Service will incorporate the mistakes made at the so-called Esperanza Fire into its firefighter training and classroom case studies by March 2008. The training will include personal testimony from firefighters who were involved that day and interactive technology that can be used in annual firefighter refresher courses.

The agency also said it will review how and when firefighters protect homes in such areas by July 31. Based on that review, guidelines on how to assess which homes are worth protecting in these so-called “interface zones” could change, the plan said.

The inspector general for the U.S. Department of Agriculture is still investigating the Esperanza Fire for any indication of criminal wrongdoing on the part of fire personnel. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigating, said Matt Mathes, Forest Service spokesman.

Firefighters Jason McKay, 27; Jess McLean, 27; Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20; Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, and Pablo Cerda, 23, died in the wildfire.