Service honors fire crew victim

Jason McKay decided he wanted to be a fireman at the age of 3, when he accidentally burned his finger on a match and realized the dangers of fire.

McKay made good on that dream, and on Friday more than 1,000 friends, family members and colleagues came to the High Desert Church in Victorville to honor the life of the 27-year-old U.S. Forest Service firefighter killed in last week’s wildfire in Riverside County.

McKay and the rest of his five-member fire crew died after the wind-whipped blaze overran them as they tried to save a home in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains.

“Jason McKay gave his life while protecting someone else’s life and property, and even though we honor his noble service today, at the same time we mourn his passing,” said Jeff Barbour, a pastor at the church.

Engines from the San Bernardino County and Victorville fire departments, their ladders outstretched, displayed a large American flag outside the church, and U.S. Forest Service members flanked the family as they walked into the church.

McKay was described as an avid outdoorsmen who would hike for hours in the San Bernardino National Forest. A video montage played during the service showed several pictures of McKay with his fiancee, Staci Burger.

“Nine days ago, one of the worst tragedies in the 100-year history of the Forest Service took the lives of five heroes as they stood on the line, faced down the flames, and protected and served,” said Steve Seltzner, a Forest Service chaplain. “It has shaken this agency and the men and women of the San Bernardino National Forest to its very core and shocked the entire world.”

McKay, the crew’s assistant engine operator, spent five years with the Forest Service and another four as a volunteer firefighter in Adelanto. He was a certified emergency medical technician and had earned an associate’s degree in fire science, officials said.

“He was my strength and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” said Brenda Zimmerman, Jason’s sister. “He taught me desire and fought fiercely for what he believed in.”

McKay’s sisters, Zimmerman and Crystal McKay, read poems during the approximately 90-minute service.

“Jason was my best friend, who always made me smile,” recited Crystal McKay. “Anytime I needed, he listened for a while.”

The service ended with a folded American flag presented to Bonnie McKay, Jason’s mother, by a Forest Service honor guard. She clutched the flag while bagpipes played “Amazing Grace.”

An urn containing McKay’s ashes was placed aboard a Forest Service fire engine that led a procession of fire vehicles from area stations to McKay’s family home in Apple Valley.

The funeral came a day after Raymond Lee Oyler, a Beaumont mechanic, was charged with five counts of murder for allegedly starting the blaze. He also was charged with 11 counts of arson and 10 counts of possession of materials with the intent to commit arson, and is accused of setting a string of other fires in the Banning area.

On Friday, Riverside County district attorney investigators searched the homes of Oyler’s relatives and his girlfriend’s mother.

Oyler’s attorney, Mark R. McDonald, said he had not seen anything to support the assertion that there was “overwhelming” evidence against his client. In the investigative reports provided to McDonald, officials had not pinpointed the specific area where the other 10 arson fires began or what accelerant was used, he said.

“They’re trying to build their case based on the fires being started in a similar way,” McDonald said, after reviewing the summary provided to him by the district attorney’s office. “They’re trying to say the Esperanza fire was started in a way similar to the Beaumont and Banning fires in June, and that because they think Oyler started those, he’s also the perpetrator on the Esperanza fire.”

The only evidence investigators seized were cigarette butts from Oyler’s home and a gas can from one of his two cars, McDonald said.

Crystal Breazile, 24, Oyler’s girlfriend of two years, said in a brief interview that she had no doubts about her boyfriend’s innocence, saying he had “nothing at all” to do with the fires.

“I’m a hundred and ten thousand percent behind him,” Breazile said as she cradled the couple’s 7-month-old daughter.

She said investigators threatened to take her child away if she did not cooperate.

“They’ve been harassing us nonstop,” she said. “It’s been so crazy.”

McDonald said the family is constantly under surveillance.

“I wouldn’t even call this an aggressive investigation. I would call it a vicious investigation,” McDonald said.

Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office, said the office had no comment on the statements Oyler made to sheriff’s officials or any other aspect of the case.

“Everything is evidence in the case -- it’s not really open to public consumption until the preliminary hearing,” Wyatt said.

Cpl. Dennis Gutierrez, a sheriff’s spokesman, said his office would have no further comment on the Esperanza fire or the arson investigation.

At McKay’s funeral, fire officials shied away from commenting on the criminal case.

A private service for Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont was also held Friday. Funerals for Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley; Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto; and Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, of Idyllwild, are slated for the next few days.

A public memorial service for all five firefighters is planned at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Hyundai Pavilion in Devore.

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com

maeve.reston@latimes.com

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Times staff writer Sara Lin contributed to this story.