Esperanza Fire
The Esperanza Fire was an arson- triggered forest and bush fire that was active in Riverside County , California , USA from October 26 to 31, 2006 . The fire destroyed 54 buildings and killed five firefighters in Twin Pines. Arsonist Raymond Oyler was sentenced to death in June 2009.
Location of the fire
Cabazon is located in a valley on the north side of the San Jacinto Mountains , which extend from the valley floor at 1,700 feet (518 m) to the rural mountain community of Twin Pines at 4,000 feet (1,219 m). Twin Pines is made up of scattered residences on private land that sit at the end of an unnamed and funnel-shaped depression that extends to the valley floor. Lower parts of the community can be reached through narrow, winding and unpaved roads.
The Twin Pines area is surrounded to the east and south by the San Bernardino National Forest . According to the MAST report, it is an area of very high to extreme threat to the potential and destructive effects of forest fires due to physical orientation, dense Chaparral / Manzanita type vegetation , exposure to rising winds and the alignment of potential Santa Ana winds .
The fire broke out at the foot of San Gorgonio Peak southeast of Cabazon and got its name due to its later spread south of Esperanza Avenue.
Spread and fire fighting
The fire was reported on October 26, 2006 at around 1:11 a.m. ( UTC − 7 ). Due to the predicted conditions of high temperatures, low humidity and Santa Ana winds, large fire growth was expected should the fire withstand initial control measures. Forces from the California Forest and Fire Protection Department ( CAL FIRE ) were immediately mobilized and arrived at the source of the fire at 1:18 a.m. Five minutes later the fire had grown to five times its found size and had jumped the road east of the moat in an area known as Hallis Grade.
The battalion chief on site contacted the Emergency Response Center ( ECC ) in Perris about the fact that the fire had possibly entered a designated fire protection area of the forest administration and therefore requested five type 3 fire engines from the San Bernardino National Forest. A short time later, the fire was described as uncontrolled with abnormal fire behavior, which is why ten fire-fighting helicopters and six fire-fighting aircraft have now been requested. At 3:07 am, command was taken over by a division chief of CAL FIRE. By this time the fire had spread over an estimated area of 2 km² and burned west and southwest over the 1,378 m high Cabazon Peak, which is why the evacuation of Twin Pines was initiated at 4:00 am.
The five firefighting teams from the National Forest were deployed along Twin Pines Road and Highway 243 to Twin Pines to help the structural protection group protect the buildings. However, one of the vehicles had previously been dispatched to Interstate 10 for a brief fire- fighting operation, but was also able to arrive at Twin Pines at 5:45 a.m. In addition, an MB 10 fire engine from March Air Reserve Base had come along. The supervisor of structural protection commissioned the units to sift through the area for buildings to be defended ( triage ).
Teams 51, 54, 56 and MB 10 took up positions at a mobile home on Gorgonio View Road, Team 52 at a brick house on Venison Road, and Team 57 at an octagonal building on Gorgonio View Road. Between approximately 6:45 a.m. and 7:15 a.m., the main fire front passed over the positions. The units at the mobile home had withdrawn into their vehicles after unsuccessful extinguishing and fire suppression measures, and the unit at the brick house also survived the fire. However, the five men of team 57 were killed.
After two days, the north side of the fire parallel to Interstate 10 and the west side of the fire in front of Highway 79 was contained. In the south and southeast, the fire was fought with all available means to prevent further spread to Soboba Hot Springs and San Jacinto .
On October 31, 2006 at around 6 p.m. the fire was under control.
Effects
The fire was classified as Type 1 according to the Incident Command System and reached an area of around 166 km². 34 houses and 20 outbuildings were destroyed by flames, and Highways 243 and 79 had to be closed. At the height of the fire, 2,555 firefighters, 286 other forces, 264 fire engines and 17 aircraft were in action, including a DC-10 Air Tanker . Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger offered a $ 100,000 reward for clues leading to the arrest of the perpetrator. That reward was later increased to $ 550,000.
The tragedy was investigated by an Interagency Serious Accident Investigation Team from CAL FIRE and Forest Service, who released their final report in May 2007. A second report was published in July 2007 by the Federal Agency for Occupational Safety and Health , and a third report by the Ministry of Agriculture in December 2009.
According to the reports, a series of wrong decisions by the team 57, in connection with a partial complicity of superiors and the extraordinary fire behavior, led to their death. The shape of the octagon house in conjunction with the topographical features at the scene of the accident contributed to a wind / fire vortex effect that overcame the firefighters at high speed. All five were found outdoors and none had used their fire shelter . The reconstruction revealed that the flames had reached a height of about 4.6 meters and rolled over the area around the house at over 48 km / h. As early as 2002, the octagonal house was judged in a structural protection report to be unsustainable in the event of a major fire. Due to the molten materials of the fire shelters , the temperature at the time of the fire was estimated at 877 ° C.
In May 2008, Highway 243 between Banning and Mountain Center was renamed Esperanza Firefighters Memorial Highway . In addition, several memorials were erected, including one at the Octagon House in Twin Pines in 2011.
Raymond Oyler
Beaumont mechanic Raymond Lee Oyler was arrested five days after the fire started . After a questioning and a house search, he was linked to the Esperanza fire, as well as other fires in the area of the San Gorgonio Pass that year, mainly based on testimony and DNA traces.
On June 5, 2009, he was found guilty of and sentenced to death on 40 charges, including the willful murder of the five firefighters. He is on death row at San Quentin State Prison until his execution .
literature
- The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57 by John Maclean