Deadly fire had 90-foot flames
Five firefighters who died battling a wildfire last month faced 90-foot walls of flame that advanced at 40 mph in a terrifying firestorm fueled by howling winds and tinder-dry chaparral, according to a preliminary report.
The six-page report, released late last week by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, indicates that the combination of wind, the slope of the terrain and ground cover created an explosive situation, with temperatures at the fire’s leading edge reaching 1,220 degrees.
A column of gas and smoke from the blaze rose 18,000 feet.
Firefighters Jason McKay, 27, Jess McLean, 27, Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, and Pablo Cerda, 23, were overrun by flames Oct. 26 in the Esperanza fire, while protecting a home in Twin Pines, in Riverside County.
McKay, McLean and Hoover-Najera died at the scene. Loutzenhiser died several hours later and Cerda died several days later.
Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, has been charged with arson and murder in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
CDF spokesman Daniel Berlant said the report would be used to instruct firefighters. He declined to comment further, citing an ongoing internal investigation and the criminal case against Oyler.
The report details the firefighters’ actions in the hour before their deaths. They were overrun by flames less than an hour after discussing strategies, conditions and safety measures with a superior.
About 6:20 a.m., the crew of Engine 57 was briefed by a CDF branch commander, who then left. The crew set up a fire hose to pump water from the pool of the house they were defending.
By 7:10 a.m., wind drove the fire into a drainage below the house, and flames then jumped up the slope.
The fire front, fueled by 50-mph gusts, traveled at almost the exact angle of the slopes below the firefighters, adding to the blaze’s spread and intensity.
“It creates erratic, very quick-moving fire behavior,” said Rose Davis, spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
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