By Charles Hand
The Valley Chronicle
LOS ANGELES — Though the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that U.S. Forest Service officials contributed to the deaths of the five firefighters in the Esperanza Fire by violating several rules of wildland firefighting, it also found that the members of the Engine 57 crew contributed to their own deaths by failing to follow an order to relocate.
The OSHA investigation released last week found many of the same faults in the actions of firefighters and command officers identified in an earlier report from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and U.S. Forest Service, particularly involving lack of information about the area in which Engine 57 and others were fighting the fire.
The OSHA findings were based on 10 standing fire orders and 18 watch-out circumstances.
Full Story: Report critical of fire crew