By Gillian Flaccus
The Associated Press
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YUCAIPA, Calif. — Risky decisions, failure to fully plan an escape and pressure to ignore hazards may have led to the deaths of five U.S. Forest Service firefighters last year, according to the findings of an investigation released Tuesday.
“The human elements are critical factors in the evaluation of this investigation,” said the report on the so-called Esperanza Fire. “A risky decision or a series of risky decisions appear to have contributed to this dangerous situation from which there was no room for error.”
The fire ignited Oct. 26 and was spread by fierce Santa Ana winds. The five firefighters and their engine were overrun by flames as they tried to protect a house in a mountain community about 90 miles east of Los Angeles. The blaze eventually charred more than 60 square miles and destroyed 34 homes.
Forest Service Chief Forester Gail Kimbell said at a news conference Tuesday that two main factors led to the tragedy.
“There was a loss of situational awareness concerning the dangers associated with potential fire behavior ... while in a complex urban wildland situation,” Kimbell said.
Decisions by command officers and supervisors to try to protect buildings also were a factor, Kimbell said.
“They underestimated, accepted or misjudged the risk to firefighter safety,” Kimbell said.
The individuals who made those decisions were not identified. Officials with the Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection refused to answer questions about the contents of the report or to elaborate on the findings.
A 2002 map developed by state fire officials flagged the empty vacation home where the blaze overran the firefighters as “non-defensible,” the report said.
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 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 human factors found in “some or all personnel assigned to the incident” included overconfidence, organizational or peer pressure to operate in a hazardous situation, excessive motivation to achieve the assignment, and acceptance of a high risk, it said.
Firefighters Jason McKay, 27; Jess McLean, 27; Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20; Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, and Pablo Cerda, 23, were overrun by flames on Oct. 26 while protecting a home in Twin Pines.
Their families were shown the report before its release, said Forest Service spokesman Matt Mathes.
Raymond Lee Oyler, a 36-year-old auto mechanic, is charged with five counts of first-degree murder, 17 counts of using an incendiary device and 23 counts of arson between May 16 and Oct. 26, 2006.
Gary Helmer, the Forest Service’s safety and occupational health manager, said the chief forester will now review a safety action plan developed from the investigation’s findings and could sign it as early as this week.
Asked whether the plan will include a recommendation not to protect structures, Helmer replied: “Every situation is different. We’re not going to carte blanche say we’re not going to do structural fire protection.”
Al Matecko, Forest Service public and legislative affairs representative for the Pacific Northwest region, said a copy of the report was given to the Riverside County district attorney Tuesday. He said state law prevented him from commenting on the report as long as a criminal case was pending.
“We don’t want to prejudice the court case in any way, shape, or form. We don’t want to do that,” he said.
Helmer said the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Agriculture has also begun an investigation.
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