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Tag: Esperanza fire

John N. Maclean previews Esperanza fire book

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,

hand holding matchJohn N. Maclean has been working on a new book about the Esperanza fire for quite some time, but he still has a lot of work left to do on the project. The earliest it will be published is late 2011. But in the meantime, we have a preview of the still untitled book through a lengthy article he wrote for the High Country News.  Here is a description of the piece:

“When a jury returns to a packed courtroom to announce the verdict in a capital murder case, every noise — even a chair scraping or a door opening — cracks like a rifle shot. That’s how it was at the trial of Raymond Lee Oyler, accused of murder for setting Southern California’s Esperanza Fire, which fatally burned five men on a U.S. Forest Service engine crew. As the jurors filed into the Riverside County Superior Court room … they had to work to keep their decision off their faces.”

With powerful scenes like that and compelling storytelling, writer John N. Maclean explores the world of wildfire arson in the cover story of the latest issue of High Country News, the nonprofit magazine that covers the American West.

Under the headline, “The Fiery Touch,” Maclean takes us into the courtroom where Oyler was tried in 2009 on arson and murder charges. He reports testimony of witnesses and kin of the dead and details of the jury’s deliberations. He reconstructs the 2006 Esperanza Fire’s fierceness and how investigators cracked the case. He also describes the history of notable wildfire arson cases and the longtime tolerance for people who start wildfires to create firefighting jobs, and talks about how, “The Oyler case stands as a warning to every would-be fire starter: Tolerance for the torch has gone the way of the Old West.”

A sidebar describes more than a dozen notable wildfire arson cases in the last half-century, including huge blazes in Southern California, Arizona and Colorado and the 1953 Rattlesnake Fire that killed 15 firefighters.

Maclean has written several books on disastrous Western wildfires and “A Fiery Touch” is adapted from a forthcoming book. For more on him, check his website: http://JohnMacleanBooks.com.

As a High Country News editor’s note for The Fiery Touch says: “Wildfire arsonists wield a devilish power over the environment and other people. Maclean focuses on a particularly terrible case and the toughest form of justice. It’s a riveting and timely read.”

John N. Maclean’s previous books include Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire, The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal, and Fire and Ashes: On the Front Lines of American Wildfire.

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UPDATE November 12, 2013:

Esperanza Fire Factual Report, and the USDA Office of Inspector General’s Report on the fire.

John N. Maclean’s keynote at Firehouse World

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
John Maclean
John N. Maclean, photo: Brian Lawdermilk

Author John N. Maclean was the keynote speaker at Firehouse World 2010 which opened Tuesday in San Diego, California. Here is an excerpt from an article at Firehouse.com about Mr. Maclean’s talk:

“…The keynote address was provided by writer John Maclean, author of three wildfire disaster books including Fire on the Mountain. His talk, entitled “The New Arson Precedent,” reviewed the case of the Esperanza Fire, which killed five Calif. firefighters in 2006. Maclean discussed how the 2009 arson case — the first in which an arsonist has ever been convicted of murder for setting a wildland fire — now serves as a legal precedent and an anti-crime tool to combat arson.

Through his discussion, Maclean told the story of the Esperanza fire and the ensuing trial of arsonist Raymond Oyler, sometimes reading notes for what will become his next book. Much of the story to be told is in the change of U.S. culture which led to the evolution of punishment for setting fires in the wild, Maclean explained.

“There was a time when lots of guys set fires in the backcountry and it was tolerated by the community,” he said, for clearing land and other purposes. “It was almost an acceptable practice. However the coming of the wildland-urban interface has changed all that, starting in the 70s.”

Maclean showed how this first-time conviction was part of a much larger movement for accountability — not only with wildfires, but in the greater legal world. “Firefighters are seeing it themselves for what is seen as negligence at fire scenes,” he said. “It’s a real checkerboard [of good and bad],” he said.

Maclean discussed previous, related arson cases, to exhibit how different circumstances and changing times have led to vastly different outcomes. For example, in the 1953 Rattlesnake Fire, which killed 15 firefighters in Calif., the arsonist was caught and confessed, but a grand jury refused to indict him for murder, as they thought it was too indirect. The arsonist served a number of years for willful burning but was then released and went to live in the same area.

After the Hayman Fire in Colorado in 2002, which did not kill anyone, the forest service employee charged with the crime received two consecutive six-year terms. It was later reduced and the arsonist served six years.

After the Cedar Fire in Calif. in 2003, a different set of circumstances led to a much lighter sentence. A lost deer hunter set the fire to signal rescuers, and showed extreme contrition for having caused loss of lives. Because there was contrition, and no intention but negligence, he received six months in a halfway house.

“Sentences can be tough, but there’s flex in the system,” Maclean said. He added, “Confession seems to make a big difference in how they’re handled.”

In another recent case, Maclean noted, the death of a wildland firefighter and pilot were squarely attributed to pilot error, but the arsonist still got 15 years for setting the fatal fire.

The arsonist of the Esperanza Fire, Raymond Oyler, was sentenced in 2009 to death, and the case has already been used as a precedent to charge another arsonist with murder, Maclean said.

“The Oyler case was no sure thing,” Maclean said. “It was not an easy process, and it was in doubt until the very end.” He said it was won by several things: the legal strategy to show his connection to as many as 80-100 fires that summer; the CAL FIRE arson unit’s meticulous evidence collecting at these many small fires; fire departments’ cooperation in preserving the point of origin at fires for investigation; and the prosecutor’s arraignment for the relevant fire investigators to be available throughout the trial — almost daily — to provide clarity and expertise.

It is clear that today an arson case can result in a murder charge and the death penalty… which will hopefully result in pause, Maclean said.

USDA Inspector General finds no misconduct in Esperanza fire deaths

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

Esperanza fire engine 57 This is a big relief, but it’s not over yet. Federal prosecutors have a total of five years to decide they will file criminal charges against firefighters.

Here is an excerpt from an article by Ben Goad in the Press-Enterprise, which has been doing a great job of covering the Esperanza fire:

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A three-year federal probe into the actions of firefighters who battled the deadly 2006 Esperanza fire found no evidence of misconduct.

In a report issued today by the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Office of Inspector General, investigators concluded that the deaths five U.S. Forest Service firefighters were the result of several factors that combined during the swirling wildfire, which overcame the men of Engine Crew 57 as they fought to save a hillside home.

“In the Esperanza Fire, these included rapid, unexpected fire behavior – propelled by the sudden emergence of fire-related weather phenomena – and the forward location of a (Forest Service) crew,” according to a summary of the report sent to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Investigators based their findings on interviews with 23 Forest Service firefighters and officials, who fought the blaze alongside Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency. However, only one 14 Cal Fire employees contacted by investigators agreed to be interviewed, investigators said.

The investigation is just the third of its kind and was required by a 2002 law mandating the office investigate deaths of federal firefighters who are killed in burnovers or entrapments.

The two previous investigations led to charges against two fire commanders in the deaths of federal firefighters in Washington State and Idaho.

The law was created after the 2001 Thirtymile Fire in Washington state, which killed four firefighters. U.S. Forest Service supervisor Ellreese N. Daniels was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and lying to investigators.

After the 2003 Cramer Fire in Idaho, in which two firefighters died, the U.S. attorney’s office filed charges against that fire’s incident commander, Alan Hackett, who was found to have been negligent in his management of the blaze.

Killed in the fire were Engine 57 Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, of Idyllwild; Jason McKay, 27, of Apple Valley; Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley; and Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto.

Arsonist Raymond Lee Oyler was convicted for setting the fire and is sentenced to die for the crime. (End of Press-Enterprise article.)

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HERE is a link to an AP article on the same topic.

The entire 26-page report from the USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is HERE, minus the redactions.

The 7-page Transmittal Letter to the USDA and Congress is HERE. It is pretty interesting reading. The letter reveals that 23 USFS employees were interviewed by the OIG, but 14 of the 15 CalFire employees that the OIG wanted to talk to declined to be interviewed. The only CalFire person that was interviewed was the Branch Director that supervised the area of the fire in which the fatality occurred.

The letter explains that the OIG Special Agents who investigated the fire have taken basic firefighter training (S-130/190) and wildland fire investigation. The Special Agents have also visited one or more fires “to observe firefighting operations”. But even though they are proud of their qualifications to investigate a multiple fatality fire, the names of the Special Agents were redacted from the report.

HERE is a link to an article we wrote on October 23 about the delay in issuing the OIG report. The article generated 12 comments from our readers, including some from author John N. Maclean.

By the way, this is the 20th article Wildfire Today has written about the Esperanza Fire.

UPDATE at 9:44 a.m. Dec. 4

The Press-Enterprise has another article about the investigation report HERE.

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UPDATE November 12, 2013:

Esperanza Fire Factual Report, and the USDA Office of Inspector General’s Report on the fire.

Esperanza fire, three years ago today

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,

Five U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighters were entrapped and died on the Esperanza fire near Cabazon, California on October 26, 2006. Killed were engine Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 44, of Idyllwild; engine operator Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; assistant engine operator Jason McKay, 27, of Phelan; and firefighter Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto. A fifth firefighter Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley, who was injured along with the other four, passed away on October 31. The five firefighters comprised the crew of a wildland engine, Engine 57, from the San Bernardino National Forest. They were assigned to a state managed fire approximately 60 miles east of Los Angeles and were entrapped while protecting a structure.

For more info:
Esperanza Fire Factual Report, and the USDA Office of Inspector General’s Report on the fire.

OIG still has not completed investigation into Esperanza fire

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 12 Comments on OIG still has not completed investigation into Esperanza fire

Monday will be the third anniversary of the Esperanza fire in which five U. S. Forest Service firefighters died in southern California. Raymond Lee Oyler has been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for setting this fire, but the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has still not completed its investigation.

One of the problems with this is that many people are waiting to hear if the OIG will recommend that criminal charges be filed against firefighters, as happened in two other fires, the Thirtymile and Cramer fires.

The Inspector General, Phyllis Fong, testified before Congress in March that the report would be issued by the end of the month. Now they are saying it will be done by the end of November.

John N. Maclean, the author of “The Thirtymile Fire”, is in southern California right now collecting additional information about the Esperanza fire for a book he is working on. Who knows, his book may be out before the OIG’s report is issued.

The Press Enterprise has an article about the OIG investigation. Here is an excerpt.

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… The delays have caused anxiety and frustration for both the firefighters who fought the 43,000-acre blaze and the families of those killed.

“We’re just waiting. We are surprised it has taken so long,” said Vivian Najera, aunt of firefighter Daniel Hoover-Najera, who was killed in the fire. “All of us have questioned when it is coming out, and we haven’t got any answers. We are anxious to find out what it has to say.”

The investigation is just the third of its kind and was required by a 2002 law mandating the office investigate deaths of federal firefighters killed in burnovers or entrapments.

The five killed in the Esperanza Fire were overrun by flames as they fought to save a lone, unoccupied home near Cabazon.

The two previous investigations led to charges against two fire commanders in the deaths of federal firefighters in Washington state and Idaho. The law was created after the 2001 Thirtymile Fire in Washington state, which killed four firefighters. U.S. Forest Service supervisor Ellreese N. Daniels was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and lying to investigators.

After the 2003 Cramer Fire in Idaho, in which two firefighters died, the U.S. attorney’s office filed charges against that fire’s incident commander, Alan Hackett, who was found to have been negligent in his management of the blaze. However, Cal Fire’s jurisdiction over the Esperanza Fire is a key difference from the previous two cases and one that presented a “unique challenge” to federal investigators,” Fong told members of the House Appropriation Committee during a March 11 briefing. “The fire occurred on non-federal land, and (the Forest Service) was assisting in the suppression effort as part of a cooperative agreement with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, an entity for which OIG has no oversight jurisdiction,” Fong said.

‘TYPICAL,’ ‘FRUSTRATING’

That question of jurisdiction and the relationship between state and federal agencies battling the same blaze is certain to be addressed in the report. The firefighting community, both locally and nationally, has long awaited the investigation’s findings, said Casey Judd, business manager for the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association, which represents federal firefighters around the country.

“It’s typical of the agency — typically frustrating,” Judd said. “I can’t for the life of me see why the OIG can’t get this out.”

In the aftermath of the fire, the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and a joint state-federal task force launched separate investigations of the fire. Not wishing to obstruct the latter, OIG investigators delayed their interviews, Feeney said Thursday.

“This was done to ensure that OIG’s inquiry did not interfere with theirs,” he said. “That decision significantly pushed back the start of OIG’s primary investigative work.”

Both of the earlier inquiries found fire personnel took unnecessary risks.

Killed in the fire were Engine 57 Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, of Idyllwild; Jason McKay, 27, of Apple Valley; Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley; and Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto.

Oyler was convicted of five counts of murder for setting the blaze and was sentenced in June to die.

Relatives of the firefighters and others will gather Monday at 11:30 a.m. at the Cabazon Fire Station, 50382 Irene St. in Cabazon, to memorialize the third anniversary of the fire and the deaths of the five men.

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UPDATE November 12, 2013:

Esperanza Fire Factual Report, and the USDA Office of Inspector General’s Report on the fire.

Oyler’s brother-in-law turns himself in, wanted for jury tampering, Esperanza fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

Wildfire Today reported on Thursday that the brother-in-law of Raymond Lee Oyler who was convicted and sentenced to death for starting dozens of fires, including the 2006 Esperanza fire that killed five US Forest Service firefighters, was wanted by law enforcement for allegedly tampering with the jury during Oyler’s trial.The fugitive, Christopher Vaughn Hillman, has turned himself in. Earlier this month he fled out the back of his home when law enforcement officers went to the house with a search warrant. Since then his location had not been known.

More details are in our earlier post and also at FDNN.