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A black day for local
firefighters
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006, 4:30 p.m.
By J.P. Crumrine
Assistant Editor
“Everything should have gone right,” Norm Walker, San Jacinto Ranger
District fire chief, said Friday afternoon about the Esperanza Fire.
“All the worst things were brought together.”
Similar to the ocean’s reaction to the “perfect storm” in October 1991,
15 years later, nature conspired to combine terrain, vegetation, fire
temperature and smoke to create a perfect firestorm and take four more
of us from families and friends.
It took 72 hours for man to gain some control over this murderous
conflagration. Fire officials are united in the opinion that an
arsonist birthed this fire. It takes very little imagination or even
research to confirm that there were no lightning strikes in the
district the night of Oct. 25.
But at 1:12 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, someone reported a fire just south
of Cabazon, near Esperanza Road. County engine 24 from Cabazon
responded first, according to Julie Hutchinson, California Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) public information officer.
Not much later, the call went out to the Forest Service that the
Esperanza Fire was spreading south into the district and up the
mountain toward Twin Pines. At least four engines were initially
deployed.
Other firefighters were being called out quickly. B.J. Scott, a Vista
Grande Hotshot, was home sleeping. He did not have to report until 9
a.m., but his phone rang about 2 a.m. “The fire’s spreading, come now!”
was the direction.
On the way to the station, he saw the flames already approaching Twin
Pines. He detoured to alert his parents, who live there. They were
startled and surprised to hear knocking at the door around 3:30 a.m.
and a flashlight shining.
“What kind of burglar knocks?” asked Ed Scott, B.J.’s father.
The smoke was getting denser, the breathing harder and the Scotts
evacuated by 6:30 a.m. They watched and followed neighbors leave with
horses tied to the rear of vans. The traffic increased and the pace
slowed.
At about 7:30 a.m., four Forest Service engines — Kenworthy, Keenwild,
Vista Grande and Alandale — were deployed along Gorgonio View Road. The
smoke got so dense that some men reported difficulty seeing the
outlines of their comrades less than 10 feet away.
At about 7:48 a.m., someone said over a radio, “The fire is getting
closer to 243. We’ve got a major firestorm going on that area; thinking
it’s on the south side.”
Contrary to reports, the smoke made it impossible to see other units.
Each man and unit was worrying about their own safety. Then suddenly,
an open mike from someone’s radio went on. Standard procedure is to
take a quick roll call to determine whose radio is on and the reason.
“Suddenly there was no Loutzenhiser,” Walker said.
Walker was at the initial command post in Cabazon, but he was listening
to all the radio traffic. These four engines all reported to him. These
were his men and colleagues.
He did not wait. He ran out, jumped in his vehicle and dashed up the
mountain to the fire. Within minutes, the firefighters on scene were
calling for emergency medical help. First, ambulances were dispatched,
but quickly helicopters replaced them.
By the time Walker arrived on the scene, Alandale Capt. Mark
Loutzenhiser and Pablo Cerda, the lone survivors, were in the
helicopter and being transported to the burn center at the Arrowhead
Regional Medical Center. Yet three crews still had to face the bodies
of three other friends and partners.
Photographs depict a war zone. Everything is shades of gray, even the
green Forest Service engine 57. Trees are black, no leaves, a house is
barely a frame. The ground’s colors are black and gray, no brown or
ochre. The open-mike radio was basically melted.
“You guys have done all you can here,” Walker told his troops. “It’s so
hard for them,” he said Friday. “There will be better times.”
By noon, news of Loutzenhiser’s death started to spread.
Thirty hours later was not a better day for Walker, although the Forest
Service’s support and the community’s help eased the pain some.
Counselors arrived Friday and Saturday to help the families first and
then the district staff.
But firefighters are quiet people, not known for their extroversion.
Talking about their feelings and fears will not be easy or comfortable.
Walker told his crews, “You tell us when you’re ready to go back.”
He does not want someone on the line who is not prepared to fight a
fire with their full attention. Any distraction or lapse could be
fatal, even when nature does not stack the deck like last week.
In the interim, the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and the Cleveland
National Forest had crews here Thursday afternoon or evening. The
district was still being protected while the local firefighters
recovered from a devastating blow.
On Friday when the Esperanza incident command was looking at
contingencies in case the Fire turned toward the Hill, Dale Hutchinson,
CDF battalion chief, called Walker. He asked if Walker or any of the
local staff wanted to be involved in the attack plans. But in a sign of
the cooperation and mutual reliance in the district, Walker replied,
“Whatever you need, just do it. Your guys know the area, too.”
Saturday afternoon, all but one of the San Jacinto Ranger District
guard stations were open. Walker knows his staff. Friday, he said they
would return quickly and could never forsake the community they live in
and protect.
“They’re professional firefighters and want to get back in the engine,”
he predicted. “But they are sitting out this one unless it moves this
way [toward the Idyllwild and Pine Cove communities].”
The Forest Service will investigate the accident. This is standard
procedure for any fire. But no one has identified any flaws in the
crew’s efforts.
“Safety came first to Capt. Loutzenhiser,” Walker stressed. “He trained
his crewed. But all the elements lined up beyond his control.”
Walker knows that the close-knit firefighting fraternity will have to
recover and get back in the engine. But the rest of the district is
shocked, also.
“The San Jacinto district always has been closer than most districts,”
Walker said. “Whether it is the isolation from the San Bernardino or
Cleveland forests on top of the mountain or the small town of Idyllwild
at its hub, it’s a real tight gang and fire is not separate.”
J.P. Crumrine can be reached at jp@towncrier.com.
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