Firehouse.com has an interesting article that summarizes a presentation by Curt Varone about instances of firefighters being charged with manslaughter while performing their duties. Most of us are familiar with the Thirtymile fire, after which a crew boss was initially charged with felonies for the deaths of four entrapped firefighters, but there have been at least 11 other similar cases according to Varone. Here is an excerpt from the article.
Varone said he has found 12 such cases that have occurred since 2001, not counting intentional acts such as firefighter arson resulting in death. “We’re talking about accidental deaths,” he specified.
Varone noted that this isn’t just a U.S. phenomenon, either. For example, a UK firefighter was recently charged for spooking cows during a response, resulting in the trampling death of a farmer. In another example, a UK fire official was indicted over a fire response in which several other firefighters – including his own son – were killed.
[…]
Another top discussion involved supervisors being charged with manslaughter as a result of their employees’ death.
Varone recounted the case of Alan G. Baird III of the Lairdsville (N.Y.) Fire Department, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter and convicted of criminally negligent homicide after the 2001 training death of a recruit.
He also highlighted the case of the Thirty Mile wildfire, in which four firefighters were killed in Washington in 2001, and their supervisor was charged with involuntary manslaughter in 2006 – partly as a result of the families’ ongoing lobbying.
“It took them five years but they finally got what they what they were looking for,” Varone said. He suggests that while the public tends to think of lawsuits as money-driven, the root of lawsuits like these are rage and grief.
In the end, Varone said there are some take-away lessons to be gleaned from these cases. For one, in the aftermath of such events, public uproar has to be expected. Does it matter what kind of person the responder is or was? Absolutely, Varone said. If they were known to be ethical, that can affect the public perception and outcome.
However, convictions were likelier in cases involving issues such as alcohol, drugs or horseplay.
“Some factors can make a case indefensible,” Varone said.
The Thirtymile Fire (or 30 Mile fire) was first discovered during the evening of July 9, 2001. During the afternoon of July 10 high winds developed causing the Thirty Mile Fire in the Chewuch River Valley, north of Winthrop, WA to blow up and grow from approximately 5 acres to over 2500 acres within 2 ½ hours.
That afternoon twenty-one firefighters and two civilians were entrapped in a narrow canyon of the Chewuch River Valley. Fires shelters were deployed in an area surrounded by fire on all sides. Four firefighters were killed and another four firefighters and 2 civilians were injured.
Those killed were:
Tom L. Craven, 30, Ellensburg, WA;
Karen L. Fitzpatrick, 18, Yakima, WA;
Devin A. Weaver, 21, Yakima, WA;
Jessica L. Johnson, 19, Yakima, WA.
Ellreese Daniels, the crew boss of those four firefighters, had been initially charged with 11 felonies, including four counts of manslaughter after the four members of his crew were entrapped and killed. The charges were reduced to two counts of making false statements to which Mr. Daniels pleaded guilty on August 20, 2008. He was sentenced to three years of probation and 90 days of work release.
This was the first time that a wildland firefighter in the United States had been charged with felonies for decisions that were made on the fire line. It set a precedent and may forever change the profession. Since then, firefighters have been advised to “lawyer up” immediately after a serious accident on a fire. Many are hesitant to speak to investigators for fear of going to prison and ruining their lives and the lives of their families, which makes it difficult to glean any lessons learned from an unfortunate incident.
The Cantwell-Hastings bill that was signed into law in 2002 was a knee-jerk reaction to the fatalities on the Thirtymile fire. It required fatalities of U.S. Forest Service personnel on a fire to be investigated by the Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General’s office — an office that had no experience or training in the suppression or investigation of wildland fires. The goal of the IG investigation would be to determine if any crimes were committed, so that a firefighter could be charged and possibly sent to prison. The “National Infrastructure Improvement and Cost Containment Act”, House Bill 4488, introduced in January of 2010 primarily to improve the pay of wildland firefighters, would make this situation even worse, expanding the investigation requirement to include the Department of Interior agencies as well as the Forest Service and the Department of Agriculture.
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On a side note, the Wikipedia entry about the Thirtymile fire is terrible and needs to be revised and fleshed out.
Some of the Charleston, SC firefighters that were involved in the June 18, 2007 Sofa Super Store fire that killed nine firefighters may be charged with criminal negligence if the families of two of the firefighters who died in the fire have their way. Wildfire Today covered the report on the fire. While it was strictly a structure fire, we said then “there are some lessons to be learned that would apply to wildland fire”.
If these firefighters are charged with crimes, they would be in the same boat as wildland firefighters involved in the Thirtymile (2001) and Cramer (2003) fires.
Here is an excerpt from an article at the Post and Courier about the situation in Charleston.
A team of State Law Enforcement Division agents is reviewing records from the Sofa Super Store blaze for signs of criminal negligence on the part of commanders who oversaw the attack on the inferno in which nine firemen died, authorities said.
Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson requested the review after meeting with relatives of two firefighters who died in the June 18, 2007, inferno. Family members of captains Louis Mulkey and William Hutchinson gave Wilson eight binders of materials they say prove that commanders exposed fire crews to unnecessary and deadly risks with insufficient training and leadership.
“This is all about the truth,” said Randy Hutchinson, who lost his brother in the fire. “Wherever it goes, it goes. But the truth has to come out. It’s been withheld for too long.”
Wilson already has the results of an 18-month criminal investigation into the fire conducted by Charleston police. She received that case file in late 2008, but she has held off deciding on possible charges until all studies of the fire have been completed. One major federal study — a computer model to reconstruct the blaze — is said to be a few months from completion.
Previous reports have faulted the actions of commanders. A May 2008 report by a city-appointed panel of fire experts cited command failures as a predominant factor in the Fire Department’s unstructured and uncoordinated response to the blaze, which exposed firefighters to “excessive and avoidable risks.” The reports, however, haven’t touched on whether those actions rose to the level of criminality.
Randy Hutchinson, his mother and Mulkey’s parents are pushing for SLED to officially reopen the criminal investigation and conduct an independent inquiry into the actions of former Fire Chief Rusty Thomas and others. They contend that Charleston police have an inherent conflict of interest in the matter and they have little faith that police investigators even considered negligence by officials at their sister agency.
“I don’t believe the Charleston Police Department is competent enough to investigate the Charleston Fire Department,” said Mike Mulkey, whose son died in the fire. “A police officer is not trained to fight fires or know what to do inside a burning building. This is a like a fox in the henhouse. It’s totally inappropriate.”
City officials deny a conflict, and Police Chief Greg Mullen insists his department conducted a thorough investigation that explored every angle.
Make sure your professional liability insurance is paid up.
Bill Molumby, as Deputy IC on the Lincoln Complex in Montana, Aug. 20, 2003
One of the five Type 1 Incident Management Teams in California is being disbanded. Bill Molumby who had been Team 2’s Incident Commander for several years retired in November and apparently they are having a hard time replacing him. Mr. Molumby had worked for the U.S. Forest Service for a couple of decades, mostly on the Cleveland National Forest in southern California, and for the last several years of his federal career worked for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the Fire Management Officer for the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex/Southern California Zone
The California Wildfire Coordinating Group (CWCG) explained in a letter to the wildfire agencies why they decided to disband the team:
Participation on California Type 1 and Type 2 Incident Management Teams (IMTs) continues to decline. In 2009 all Type 1 Deputy IC positions were filled by employees previously retired from federal service and employed by local fire departments or hired by federal agencies under the AD authority during incidents. There were no new applicants for trainee Type 1 IC positions from the ranks of the Type 2 IMTs. CWCG has made the decision to reduce the number of Type 1 IMTs for 2010 due to the lack of qualified Incident Commanders and trainees. The Incident Commander of California IMT#2 (CIIMT 2) has retired and this team will be disbanded.
We have been hearing for decades that with so many experienced firefighters retiring “soon”, that there would be great difficulty in filling upper level positions in wildfire organizations and on incident management teams. Frequently in meetings of firefighters a speaker would ask all those that are retiring in the next 2-3 years to raise their hands, and it always seemed that there were a lot of hands in the air.
With some of the mistakes and errors in judgment that we have seen recently on wildfires and escaped prescribed fires, it makes you wonder if the chickens have finally come home to roost. Would it have made a difference if a more experienced person had made these decisions?
In an email on January 8 to some of his friends and former workmates, Mr. Molumby had this to say, in part, about disbanding Team 2. It is used here with his permission.
The decision to disband Team 2 at first take was purely a business decision, albeit the wrong decision. The primary issue raised was the lack of a federal incident commander as stated. This of course is contrary to previous decisions; hence, it appears as an excuse. I am stunned though at the lost California has just experienced in not accepting Joe Stutler as the incident commander. Joe stepped up and offered to lead the team with the intent of mentoring a “federal” replacement. There were those federal employees qualified to be his deputy but failed to redeem their responsibility. What was important though is what this meant to California and the national incident management team community. Joe not only brought excellence, as demonstrated in his years as a type 1 incident commander, but he brought more experience than all of the current California type 1 incident commanders combined (I venture to guess)! Be that as it may, this will be evaluated in years gone by for what transpires, not what we imagine.
Joe Stutler
Joe Stutler has offered to lead the team in order to mentor a trainee Type 1 IC until that person could become qualified for the position, but apparently the offer was not accepted.
Mr. Stutler was a long-time Type 1 IC, including leading Pacific Northwest Team 3. He retired from the federal government after working for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for 34 years and since 2004 has been the forester for Deschutes County in Oregon. He served as Lead Investigator for numerous wildland fire accidents and entrapments. His Type 1 team assumed command of the Thirtymile fire after the burnover that took the lives of four firefighters in 2001. The Seattle PI still has an interesting article online about that incident and Mr. Stutler’s team.
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:
==========================
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.)
==========================
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.
For a lot of reasons, this fire is going to be a part of the heritage of wildland firefighters for a long time.
The Thirty Mile Fire was first discovered during the evening of July 9, 2001. During the afternoon of July 10 high winds developed causing the Thirty Mile Fire in the Chewuch River Valley, north of Winthrop, WA to blow up and grow from approximately 5 acres to over 2500 acres within 2 ½ hours.
21 firefighters and 2 civilians were entrapped in a narrow canyon of the Chewuch River Valley. Fires shelters were deployed in an area surrounded by fire on all sides. Four firefighters were killed and another four firefighters and 2 civilians were injured.
Those killed were:
Tom L. Craven, 30, Ellensburg, WA; Karen L. Fitzpatrick, 18, Yakima, WA; Devin A. Weaver, 21, Yakima, WA; Jessica L. Johnson, 19, Yakima, WA.
On December 30 and 31, after combing through the 800+ posts on Wildfire Today during 2008, we posted the top wildland fire news stories of January-April, and May-August. On December 29 we posted a list of fatalities on wildland fires.
Today, January 1, we have the top stories for September-December, 2008. Posted below are excerpts from the articles. To read the full text in the original articles, click on the links.
This huge fire 30 miles northeast of Billings received some rain late on Sunday. The precipitation and cooler temperatures enabled firefighters to make good progress Sunday and Monday, resulting in the fire being 100% contained today. Here is a photo from a couple of days ago:
As many wildland firefighters know, John N. Maclean is the author of three books about wildland fire. Having known John for a while, we contacted him after Ellreese Daniels was sentenced for Daniels’ actions on the Thirtymile fire. We asked him for his reaction to the sentence and discovered that he was writing an article on the subject for Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News. We received permission from John and High Country News to publish the article. Wildfire Today thanks them both for their generosity. The article is included in its entirety HERE.
The City of San Diego introduced their new firefighting helicopter to the public yesterday. Copter 2, a Bell 412, is the city’s second helicopter. From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
The city is paying for the nearly $11 million helicopter with a 15-year lease-purchase agreement, financed by Koch Financial Corp., said Deputy Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. The helicopter will cost $15.9 million over the term of the lease.
The Bell 412 is quieter, carries more weight, and is faster than Copter 1, the city’s Bell 212, Fennessy said. He said Copter 2 can be flown with instruments in zero visibility, while Copter 1 requires some visibility to be operated.
According to the city, Copter 2 can drop 375 gallons of water. While hovering over a lake, a pilot can refill its drop tank in 17 seconds.
Allstate insurance in response to the massive fires in recent years in southern California is no longer selling new homeowner policies in the state. Some companies that are still selling new policies are requiring massive clearances around structures.
We are not aware of any specific study that has been completed on the occurrence of cancer among wildland firefighters, but there is enough data out there about structural firefighters that make this a major concern. Wildfire Today has covered this before, but the Spokane Spokesman-Review has a new disturbing article about a local cancer cluster. Here is an excerpt.
Doug Bacon missed the funeral of a fellow Spokane firefighter because the 59-year-old was in treatment for throat cancer – the same illness that had just killed his friend and co-worker.
A third Spokane firefighter who joined the department with Bacon in the 1970s also has been diagnosed with throat cancer.
“It’s to the point we’re trying to figure out which fire we were all on together,” said Bacon, who survived his cancer and returned to the job in mid-2006. “I’ve got attitude. I fought it.”
Firefighters are at least twice as likely to get cancer as the average person because of exposure to toxins emitted in fires, such as benzene, asbestos and cyanide, studies say. More firefighters have been diagnosed with cancer in the past two years than in the previous 10 years, according to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network and recent studies.
Vicki, Burke, and Melissa have been doing wonderful things at the WFF for a number of years. It’s great that CNN is recognizing them. Here is an excerpt from the CNN article, but if you go to the original HERE, you will be able to view some videos featuring Vicki and the work the WFF is doing.
BOISE, Idaho (CNN) — Firefighter Jonathan Frohreich had never heard of The Wildland Firefighter Foundation, much less its founder, until recovering from severe work-related injuries last month.
Vicki Minor’s Wildland Firefighter Foundation has granted more than $1.5 million in aid to more than 500 families.
As he lay in his hospital bed in Sacramento, California, Vicki Minor put her hand on his shoulder.
“She introduced herself and told me that she was there to help,” recalls Frohreich, who had been in a helicopter crash that killed nine of hi
s colleagues. “She just sa
id, ‘Anything.’ She was there to do anything for me.”
Since 1999, Minor has dedicated herself to providing emergency assistance and ongoing support to injured and fallen wildfire fighters and their families nationwide through her Wildland Firefighter Foundation. Wildland firefighters are called into action when the United States’ vast natural resources are threatened by fire.
San Diego County is gradually taking steps to increase their fire preparedness after being criticized in reports following their massive fires of 2003 and 2007. The City of San Diego recently purchased their second helicopter, and the County is contracting for two Bombardier CL-415 Superscooper air tankers and a lead plane for three months.
Wildfire Today first covered this on June 4, but now there are new developments.
From The State.com:
By JAMES ROSEN – jrosen@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON — A senior federal official, fearful of incurring a congressman’s wrath, sent subordinates on a mad dash earlier this year to retrieve a certified letter demanding payment of $5,773 for starting a fire that burned 20 acres of a national forest.
U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-SC
Mark Rey, undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources, said he didn’t want U.S. Rep. Henry Brown to receive the March 12 letter before he testified before a U.S. House committee on which the South Carolina Republican sits.
“I’d just as soon have him not take a chunk of hide out of me,” Rey said Wednesday.
Rey confirmed the actions of Forest Service collections agents as outlined in internal agency documents McClatchy (newspapers) obtained.
After devasting fires in 2003 and 2007, the San Diego City and County fire departments are struggling to build their wildland fire preparedness up to an adequate level. It is difficult to fathom how this situation could exist in one of the most heavily populated and wealthiest areas in North America. Here is an excerpt from an article in the North County Times.
From the La Jolla Light:
Cal Fire and the city of San Diego inked an agreement today clearing the city’s two emergency-services helicopters to fight fires at night in the 1.1 million local acres served by the state agency.
After having been virtually invisible for the last year or two, the AD Firefighter Association will cease to exist after September 30, 2009, according to their web site.
The San Diego Gas and Electric Company, whose power lines are blamed for starting the 1970 Laguna fire and the 2007 Witch Creek fire, both over 100,000 acres, plans to de-energize some power lines during periods of extreme weather. From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
The proposal was outlined in a letter that the utility plans to send Friday to about 45,000 customers living in the highest fire-risk areas. The letter also outlines other steps the utility, which has 1.4 million customers, has taken to reduce the potential for wildfires.
A report released by Cal Fire in July said that arcing SDG&E lines ignited the Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice Canyon fires, three of the most devastating wildfires that raced across the county last October.
October 6 NASA Partners With Forest Service On Air Tanker Safety Study
EDWARDS, Calif. — NASA is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service on a project to examine the mission suitability of Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 fire retardant delivery aircraft. The aircraft under study are a DC-10 belonging to 10 Tanker Air Carrier LLC and a 747 owned by Evergreen International Aviation, Inc. The DC-10 tanker has already been successfully employed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in past wildfire suppression missions.
The National Transportation Safety Board has released their official report on the DC-10 air tanker tree-strike incident that occurred in June of 2007. This was a closer call than we realized. The aircraft struck 13 trees, one of which was only 45-feet tall. This may explain some of the reluctance of the U.S. Forest Service to award a contract to Evergreen’s 747 air tanker.
This fire on an island in San Francisco bay that Wildfire Today told you about yesterday, is now 250 acres. The local ABC TV station has some excellent photos.
The fire burns near Atsion Lake in Shamong Township in New Jersey on Tuesday. Photo by Curt Hudson.
Update @ 9:13 p.m. ET
By 4:30 p.m. the fire had burned a total of 1,800 acres and was 40% contained. No homes are immediately threatened, a spokesman said.
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A fire 10 miles southeast of the Philadelphia suburbs has forced the evacuation of several homes and has burned 1,200 acres as of Wednesday morning. The fire is burning in the New Jersey Pine Barrens in the Wharton State Forest and a portion of it has burned into an area that burned last year.
San Diego Gas and Electric, a company whose power lines are blamed for starting multiple very large wildland fires, has postponed until next year plans to turn off the power to large sections of San Diego County during periods of high fire danger.
This week the Commission announced that no rules exist to prevent the utility from shutting off the electricity. But they said they want to review the plan which would shut off power to 45,000 citizens. SDG&E still hopes to be able to turn off the power as they wish next year.
Marvel Comics has created a number of comic books in tribute to our military. Their latest, released free to the military in July, features military personnel, several super heros, MAFFS air tankers, the Ikhana unmanned aerial vehicle (for mapping fires), and a fire which is threatening San Diego.
Above is one page out of the book.
The author of the comic book, Stuart Moore, blogged about his creation HERE.
Now that he is the President-Elect, how will wildland fire be affected? Of course campaign promises don’t always materialize, but Obama has an official two-page position paper on wildland fire. We don’t recall any Presidential candidate having a specific, written position on wildland fire before this election.
From FirefighterCloseCalls:
On October 3rd, 2008, at approximately 1940 hrs., a Strike Team made up of 4 BDF (San Bernardino National Forest in southern California) engines and 1 BLM (Bureau of Land Management) engine were traveling from the ICP to their night shift assignment. While in a curve, the right rear wheels of Engine #56 ran off the roadway and caught a four to six inch drop between the asphalt and shoulder.
The driver attempted to correct the situation, resulting in the engine veering across the road, hitting a dirt embankment and rolling over on the left hand side of the road. The engine landed on the passenger side.
The five crew members were treated on scene and transported by ground ambulance to Mee Memorial Hospital in King City, CA. All crew members were treated and released with minor injuries. There were no other vehicles involved. The road was paved, dry, and clear.
California: dozens of homes burn in Tea fire The Tea fire started at 6 p.m. Thursday and has burned dozens of homes south of Santa Barbara near the community of Montecito, according to Fox Channel 11. Spokesperson Michelel Mickiewicz of Santa Barbara County said at 10:15 p.m. PT that 1,000 acres have burned and 125 engines have been ordered. At least one night-flying water-dropping helicopter has also been ordered but the winds have made it difficult to use aircraft. The crew from the Channel 2 helicopter was able to count at least 50 homes that had burned as of 11 p.m PT, and that was in the dark.
Fox is reporting that the library, the physics building, and some dorms at Westmont College have burned. About 800 students are being sheltered in the gymnasium while structures on their campus burn.
The Sayer fire of November burned into October’s Sesnon fire north of Los Angeles. The official size of the Sayer fire is 9,500 acres and it is 30% contained. The Marek fire burned at the same time the Sesnon fire was burning (see map below).
Search and rescue teams with cadaver dogs will be combing through the Oak Ridge mobile home park where 500 mobile homes were lost. They will be looking for the remains of anyone who was not able to evacuate. Even though some people are not accounted for, hopefully they are safe and no remains will be found.
This fire near Corona and Yorba Linda, California is still active on the northwest side in the Diamond Bar and Tonner Canyon areas. It has burned 28,889 acres and is 40% contained. At least 120 homes have burned.
A vegetation fire on the island of Lanai caused 600 people to evacuate from a hotel and begin to flee the island by boats. The 300 acre fire, pushed by 40 mph winds, threatened the Four Seasons Resort and other areas on the island.
At least four boats loaded with evacuees left the island headed for Maui and Lahaina, but the fire situation eased and the boats were later recalled.
The five firefighters on Lanai had their hands full with this fire. They were eventually joined by 16 firefighters from other islands.
On November 17 Wildfire Today covered the conviction of a Bitterroot Valley, Montana resident, Jay M. Gasvoda, for making false statements to a federal agency. He is a fire contractor who lied about the results of the physical fitness test (pack test).
Now there is news about David Monington of Miles City, Montana being…
…indicted last week in federal court in Rapid City, SD on two counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud.
The indictment alleges he forged about 14 signatures of South Dakota firefighting officials in an attempt to gain certification from the National Wildfire Suppression Association. The documents fraudulently attest to his training and experience as a firefighter.
Firefighters of the Los Angeles Fire Department will be preparing Thanksgiving meals for some of the victims of the recent Sayer fire where about 500 mobile homes burned. The Fire Department has contacted residents of the mobile home park and thanks to members of Fire Station #27 some of them will be eating a warm meal today. Many residents have accepted the offer and up to 50 of them will be shuttled to the station from the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar.
The following was written yesterday, December 2, by Tina Hunt, the attorney who represented Ellreese Daniels in the Thirtymile fire case. It is reprinted here with her permission.
“I feel that firefighters should still remain concerned that criminal charges could be brought based upon statements they make during investigations of burnover and fatality investigations. Felony false statement charges can be very difficult to win, and that was certainly my concern in the Thirty Mile case.
While there were others who gave statements which may have been construed as false, only Ellreese was charged, and I felt as if they charged him only because they could hold the hammer of the manslaughter charges over him.
The prosecution in the 30 Mile case was ridiculous; I will always feel that way, and I would NEVER EVER EVER allow a firefighter to make statements during any investigation if I represented them.
Because there is no check on the power of the government to bring these kinds of charges, I believe that the agencies should get together, along with the AG (Attorney General), to ensure that the goals of a burnover/fatality investigation are not chilled by the threat of prosecution.”
The sad truth is, if a firefighter is involved in a serious accident, they need to Lawyer Up, and keep their mouths shut.
In September Wildfire Today reported on the escaped prescribed fire on the Deschutes National Forest near Sisters, Oregon. The U.S. Forest Service investigated the incident and on December 3 issued their report. Wildfire Today reviewed it and here is a brief summary.
From the LIFE magazine archive: “Senator Richard M. Nixon on roof of his home in Los Angeles, putting out fires caused by brush blaze.”
Google, in an effort to “organize all the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” is digitizing and putting online never-before-seen images from the LIFE magazine photo archive. So far they have put about 20% of the 10,000,000 photos online.
Kent Maxwell, via FireNet, called this to our attention and pointed out that many of the photos are dated August 8, 1949 with the citation Helena, Montana. The Mann Gulch fire, in which 13 smoke jumpers died, started on August 5, 1949 in the Helena National Forest. One of the photos shows 10-12 boxes about the size of caskets.
To search in the photo archive, go to Google and enter: (your search terms) source:life
HERE are the results, showing 200 images, of a search for: forest fire source:life
Stephen Posniak, accused of starting the Gunflint Trail Fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area that burned 75,000 acres in Minnesota and Canada in 2007, committed suicide.
The trial for the person accused of starting the Esperanza fire, where five U.S. Forest Service firefighters died, is scheduled to begin January 12.
From the Press-Enterprise:
The defense attorney for the man charged in the 2006 Esperanza Fire said in court Friday he is having trouble getting U.S. Forest Service witnesses to cooperate with his efforts to subpoena them.
Raymond Lee Oyler, 38, faces the death penalty if convicted of murder in the deaths of five U.S. Forest Service firefighters who were killed when the fire swept over them as they protected a home.
Wildfire Today has learned Evergreen’s 747 “Supertanker” still does not have an air tanker contract with any wildland fire agency. The aircraft is sitting at Marana, Arizona after undergoing some modifications and tests. One change they recently made was to replace the internal retardant tanks, requiring additional testing. The new retardant tanks hold 20,500 gallons.
[…]
Evergreen now has three important approvals which are necessary in order to seek a contract so the 747 can be used on fires: FAA’s Supplemental Type Certificate, Interagency Tanker Board approval, and an FAA Operating Certificate.
The aircraft will go through more drop testing with the U.S. Forest Service in late February or March. There is still a chance that it could be signed up with either the USFS or CalFire in time to be used on fires in the summer of 2009.
On April 15, 2008, a Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) crashed while making a drop on the Training Area 25 (TA25) fire on the Fort Carson military reservation near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Pilot Gert Marais died in the crash.
This was the same day that two firefighters died while responding to another wildland fire about 60 miles to the southeast near Ordway. Wildfire Today covered both accidents HERE.
The National Transportation Safety Board has released their “factual report” about the SEAT crash.
Wildland firefighters, and perhaps structural firefighters, will be living with the specter of the Thirtymile Fire prosecution for a long time.
This was the case, as you probably know, where a wildland firefighter, Ellreese Daniels, was charged with seven felony counts after his crew was overrun on a fire and four of them were killed. Eventually Ellreese pleaded guilty to some misdemeanor counts and was sentenced to 90 days of jail time in a work-release facility and 3 years of probation by judge Fred Van Sickle of the U. S. District Court in Spokane, Washington.
There are many problems with the concept of sending firefighters to prison for mistakes made on the fire ground–we have covered them extensively on this blog, for example HERE and HERE. But we can’t afford to turn our head and let this threat fester, and then erupt later when the next firefighter is threatened with prison. We need to fix it so that it can’t happen again.
The following was written yesterday, December 2, by Tina Hunt, the attorney who represented Ellreese. It is reprinted here with her permission.
“I feel that firefighters should still remain concerned that criminal charges could be brought based upon statements they make during investigations of burnover and fatality investigations. Felony false statement charges can be very difficult to win, and that was certainly my concern in the Thirty Mile case.
While there were others who gave statements which may have been construed as false, only Ellreese was charged, and I felt as if they charged him only because they could hold the hammer of the manslaughter charges over him.
The prosecution in the 30 Mile case was ridiculous; I will always feel that way, and I would NEVER EVER EVER allow a firefighter to make statements during any investigation if I represented them.
Because there is no check on the power of the government to bring these kinds of charges, I believe that the agencies should get together, along with the AG (Attorney General), to ensure that the goals of a burnover/fatality investigation are not chilled by the threat of prosecution.”
The sad truth is, if a firefighter is involved in a serious accident, they need to Lawyer Up, and keep their mouths shut.
UPDATE @ 1:53 MT Dec. 3:
Tina has some additional news about Ellreese. The judge modified his sentence from 90 days in a work release center to 90 days of house arrest so that he can maintain his employment. He is allowed to leave the house for work and other pre-approved activities.
As many wildland firefighters know, John N. Maclean is the author of three books about wildland fire.
Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire
Fire and Ashes: On the Front Lines of American Wildfire
The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal
He is a very well-respected author who is known for his thorough research, uncovering facts and assembling them into prose in such a way that makes his books required reading for firefighters.
Having known John for a while, we contacted him after Ellreese Daniels was sentenced for Daniels’ actions on the Thirtymile fire. We asked him for his reaction to the sentence and discovered that he was writing an article on the subject for Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News. We received permission from John and High Country News to publish the article. Wildfire Today thanks them both for their generosity. The article is included in its entirety here.
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Mistakes on the fire lines can now lead to prosecution
By John N. Maclean
Behind daily headlines about bigger and more costly wildland fires, the firefighting community has been sweating out the issue of criminal liability for mistakes made on the fire line.
It’s not just a firefighter issue: The public has a stake in how well firefighters protect lives, property and forest values. Firefighters who know they could be sent to jail for what’s later determined to be a mistake may be less aggressive in attacking a fire, and that could prove more dangerous than hitting the fire hard from the outset.
The immediate trigger for concern has been the prosecution of Ellreese Daniels, a Forest Service incident commander. He worked the Thirtymile Fire that took the lives of four young firefighters in a narrow canyon in north-central Washington on July 10, 2001, seven long years ago.
Daniels was one of 11 fire managers the Forest Service set out to discipline for a series of blunders that led to the deaths. Daniels and two others were to be fired, but virtually none of the disciplinary actions held up on appeal, and no one was fired. Daniels, who had been given another fire assignment until survivors of the Thirtymile blaze complained, was relegated to a warehouse job.
Five years after the fire, Daniels was the only fire supervisor indicted–in federal District court in Spokane on 11 felony charges, including four counts of involuntary manslaughter. It was the first-ever criminal prosecution of an incident commander for negligence on the fire line, absent malice.
Daniels, who worked for the Forest Service for 24 years before the fire, was one of the few agency blacks willing to put up with the isolation of small-town life in the rural Northwest. The truth is that Daniels was pushed into a fire supervisory role, and he was not equipped to handle a big fire that put many lives at risk. U.S. Attorney James McDevitt, though, denied any racial motivation to the prosecution; he said he did not even know Daniels was black until after he had indicted him.
Every responsible firefighter believes in accountability on the fire line; that is how safety lessons are learned. But should anyone be indicted when wildfire becomes unexpectedly violent? Every experienced firefighter knows that fire is volatile and dangerous, sometimes fatally so. Being jailed for having a bad day at work is an intimidating prospect.
The immediate result? Fewer firefighters are willing to become incident commanders. The International Association of Wildland Fire tested reactions in a survey of about 3,000 members, nearly all seasoned firefighters, and found that more than a third, or 36 percent, had decided to become “less available for fire assignments.” Another 23 percent said they would refuse the job of incident commander.
U.S. Attorney McDevitt, himself a one-time firefighter, defended the prosecution on grounds that Daniels’s negligence amounted to reckless disregard for life. Daniels recommitted his crew to the fire in late afternoon as it blew up, and after they’d backed off to a place of safety because of dangerous conditions. Then, after he and 13 others plus two civilians were cut off by spreading flames, he failed to take adequate steps to prepare for the fire’s inevitable passage. McDevitt also charged that Daniels lied to investigators afterward to shift the blame onto the fallen firefighters.
“Something had to be done,” the prosecutor said.
Last April, under threat of a chancy six-week trial, the 11 felony charges were dropped. Instead, Daniels agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges: that he had lied about ordering the doomed firefighters to move to a safer place, and about his assertion that they had disregarded the order.
On Aug. 20, Judge Fred Van Sickle sentenced Daniels to three years of probation and 90 days of work release. The judge also ordered him to submit to counseling for alcohol and substance abuse, and never to fight fire again.
Daniels’s negligence was so extreme, McDevitt said afterward, that it makes a similar prosecution “highly unlikely.” However, Daniels’s public defender, Tina Hunt, correctly noted that the case sets a precedent: No one can predict what another U.S. attorney might do.
The Daniels prosecution ended without clear victory or defeat for either side. Its effects, though, are bound to linger in the minds of firefighters, the women and men who must make instant decisions under extreme conditions that affect the lives of everyone in fire country.
-o-
John N. Maclean is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News. He is the author of “The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal,” and divides his time between the West and Washington, DC.
In a court proceeding today Ellresse Daniels was sentenced to 90 days in a work-release facility and 3 years of probation by judge Fred Van Sickle of the U. S. District Court in Spokane, Washington. He will have to spend his nights locked up for the next 90 days, but can leave to go to work during the day.
Ellreese Daniels, his attorney Tina Hunt, and investigator Thomas Krzyzanek arriving at the sentencing today, August 20.
Ellreese had been initially charged with four counts of manslaughter after members of his crew, Tom Craven, Karen FitzPatrick, Jessica Johnson and Devin Weaver were entrapped and killed on the Thirtymile fire on the Okanogan National Forest in Washington state in 2001. The manslaughter charges were reduced to two counts of making false statements to which Ellreese pleaded guilty.
He faced a maximum of six months in prison for the misdemeanor false statement charges after the plea bargain. The Assistant U.S. Attorney, Tom Hopkins, asked for 4 months and Ellreese’s attorney, Tina Hunt, wanted probation.
The judge said he did not believe that Ellreese was responsible for the deaths of the firefighters, but he was troubled by the false statements.
Members of all four of the deceased firefighters spoke at the proceeding. Karen Fitzpatrick’s mother, Kathie, told the judge Ellreese should serve 2 years in prison. The father of Tom Craven, Will Craven, said the job of firefighting is dangerous and Daniels should not serve any time.
Only time will tell if this sentence will make it more or less likely for other firefighters to face similar criminal charges when the unthinkable happens….. as it inevitably will.
Many firefighters felt that charging a firefighter with crimes for unfortunate injuries or deaths while on the job would open a Pandora’s box of firefighters having to constantly look over their shoulder and second guess every decision or lack of a decision that they may make. Many are wondering if they can afford to take on the addition risk and liability of ruining their families lives if they are accused of making a mistake on a fire.
Firefighters are being advised behind the scenes to “lawyer up” immediately after a major accident. They are collecting information how they can avoid saying anything to investigators, afraid that they may wind up in jail. Learning lessons from accidents may become difficult or impossible.
A survey of 3,362 firefighters conducted last year by the International Association of Wildland Fire showed that 36% of the full-time wildland firefighters surveyed would make themselves less available to be assigned to wildland fires as a direct result of these criminal charges being filed.
I was not on the Thirtymile Fire, so all I know is what I read in the report and from talking with some people very close to the situation.
Ellreese may have made some mistakes on the fire… a fire that exhibited extreme fire behavior. Or maybe days or weeks later he had difficulty remembering every detail of those adrenalin-filled minutes when everything went to hell on the Thirtymile fire. When he learned that four members of his crew were killed by the fire.
He and his crew had been on their shift for 24-36 hours with little or no sleep. He met all of the training and experience qualifications. I have to assume that he did the best that he possibly could with all the tools he had at his disposal. He only wanted the best for his crew.
Any firefighter in a supervisory or leadership capacity, wildland or structural, can make mistakes. If they are subject to felony charges, decades in prison, losing their job, their retirement, and their livelihood, and ruining their lives and the lives of their families, many are not going to accept this additional risk.
The decision to disband Team 2 at first take was purely a business decision, albeit the wrong decision. The primary issue raised was the lack of a federal incident commander as stated. This of course is contrary to previous decisions; hence, it appears as an excuse. I am stunned though at the lost California has just experienced in not accepting Joe Stutler as the incident commander. Joe stepped up and offered to lead the team with the intent of mentoring a “federal” replacement. There were those federal employees qualified to be his deputy but failed to redeem their responsibility. What was important though is what this meant to California and the national incident management team community. Joe not only brought excellence, as demonstrated in his years as a type 1 incident commander, but he brought more experience than all of the current California type 1 incident commanders combined (I venture to guess)! Be that as it may, this will be evaluated in years gone by for what transpires, not what we imagine.
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.
