Absolved: Four who died in wildfire

The U.S. Forest Service has backed away from a conclusion that anguished the families of four firefighters killed in the Okanogan National Forest this summer: that the four disregarded an order to move to a safer location.

Their deaths July 10 as they were trapped in narrow Chewuch Canyon prompted a Forest Service investigation into the Thirtymile Fire. Killed were Devin Weaver, 21, Jessica Johnson, 19, and Karen FitzPatrick, 18, all of Yakima; and Tom Craven, 30, of Ellensburg.

Last month, the Forest Service said that nearly every one of its firefighting rules were violated July 10. Investigators also noted that Ellreese Daniels, the incident commander, ordered firefighters in a rock field to come to a safer location on a road.

They disregarded the order, investigators said. Four of the six people who deployed emergency shelters in the rock field died. No one on the road was killed.

Many family members reacted with anger at that conclusion, saying it shifted the blame to their sons and daughters. And they said survivors contradicted reports that Daniels ordered firefighters to the road.

Apparently stung by the criticism, Forest Service chief Dale Bosworth asked for re-examination of the evidence. In a memo released yesterday, review board head Tom Thompson reported that the firefighters who died may not have heard the order, or may have thought they were closer to the road.

The firefighters may also have thought they had time to move to the road.

Thompson said some but not all firefighters remember Daniels trying to get everyone to the road. Two firefighters who did move to that spot did not acknowledge that they did so because of Daniels' order.

The revisions did little to assuage family members.

Kathie FitzPatrick, mother of Karen FitzPatrick, pointed out that Thompson's memo also concluded that "we were not able to definitely answer the ultimate question as to exactly what happened in the last 30 to 40 minutes before the deployment of shelters.

"They don't want to blame the incident commanders who were standing around when they should have gotten everyone out. It might as well have been a suicide mission."

Evelyn Weaver, Tom Craven's widow, called the new information "a bunch of crap."

"They've said, 'Let's try a maybe and put a new scenario in there,'" she said. "It's basically nothing. It's ridiculous."

Ken Weaver, father of Devin, said he was never much concerned about whether his son and others disregarded orders.

"My son never lost any sleep because someone lied about him, and neither have I," Weaver said.

More important questions remain to be addressed, he said.

"They were led down a dead-end road in a box canyon with a canopy fire," he said. "The larger issue is how can you operate with no coherent command structure, no coherent plan of attack? How can you ignore every rule?"

Also yesterday, Bosworthaccepted recommendations for agency reforms that include reducing firefighter fatigue, better fire-crew leadership and accountability, and ensuring firefighters understand how a fire might escalate.

P-I reporter Scott Sunde can be reached at 206-448-8331 or scottsunde@seattlepi.com

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